Which country is home to Europe's heaviest drinkers?

"No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health," the World Health Organization (WHO) warns. However, the amount of alcohol that we drink is still significant. 

The risk of developing cancer increases considerably when more alcohol is consumed. Health authorities call for people to stop drinking alcohol or at least to reduce it.

But do we consider these calls? 

Some people stop drinking alcohol in January, for so-called "Dry January". The figures indicate a decline in alcohol consumption in Europe, but it has been slowing since the 2000s.

How did alcohol consumption change across Europe in the last decades? Which countries have the highest rate of decrease and rise in alcohol consumption?

Overall alcohol consumption is defined as the annual sales of pure alcohol in litres per person aged 15 and over. Alcohol drinks are converted to pure alcohol. The data does not include unrecorded alcohol consumption, such as domestic or illegal production.

There is a gradual decrease in alcohol consumption in the EU and WHO's European Region. 

In the EU, overall alcohol consumption per person aged 15 years and over dropped by 2.9 litres in the last four decades, falling from 12.7 litres in 1980 to 9.8 litres in 2020, which corresponds to a 23 per cent decrease.

The consumption recorded a significant decrease between 1980 (12.7 litres) and 2000 (10.5 litres). 

The amount and rate of decrease slowed in the following two decades. It dropped by 0.5 litres between 2010 and 2010 in the EU.

The alcohol consumption in the WHO’s European Region, which covers 53 countries including Russia and surrounding countries, fell from 12 litres in 2000 to 9.5 litres in 2020, corresponding to 2.5 litres decrease (21 per cent).

Despite this drop, the WHO