And although alcohol consumption levels are about 17 per cent lower in the Island compared with a decade ago, one in four adults in Jersey are drinking at hazardous levels, according to the latest States Statistics Unit’s Alcohol Profile.
Last year a total of 42,500 sick days were claimed for alcohol-related illnesses, including alcoholism, liver disease and cirrhosis.
The Social Security Department paid out £611,500 for claims related to alcohol sickness and ailments. In 2010 that figure was almost £1 million.
On average every Islander consumes about 12 litres of pure alcohol a year – compared to ten litres in the UK. That equates to approximately 400 large glasses of wine, 530 pints of beer, or 30 litre bottles of spirits per person.
Martin Knight, the head of health improvement for the Health Department, said he was pleased to see consumption rates falling.
‘Increasingly Islanders are drinking less. There has been a culture shift to healthier lifestyles and people are starting to socialise more without alcohol,’ he added.
Between June 2000 and June 2017, the price of alcohol in Jersey has increased by 17 per cent more than retail prices generally. There are further plans in the Budget to increase the duty on alcohol by a penny in line with inflation.
Mr Knight said there was strong evidence internationally that increasing prices had an impact on cutting drinking rates.
‘It particularly reduces the accessibility of alcohol to children and young people,’ he said.
The data also showed that one in six crimes are alcohol-related.
There were 770 admissions, involving 480 people, to the General Hospital for a condition that was wholly attributable to alcohol – the lowest figures seen since 2012 – while there were 470 referrals to the Alcohol and Drugs Service for problematic drinking.
And there were 39 alcohol-related deaths last year, representing two per cent of all deaths in Jersey. The most common alcohol-related death was alcoholic liver disease (64 per cent).
