Thread by @AfricaCheck

🍻 President @CyrilRamaphosa recently bemoaned #SouthAfrica’s position “as one of the countries in the world that has a high alcohol consumption level”.

But what % of #SouthAfricans drink alcohol? Where does the country rank internationally?

We checked. bit.ly/3eU51FK

@CyrilRamaphosa The latest @WHO data shows that, on average, #SouthAfricans over 15 consumed 9.3 litres of pure alcohol each in 2016. The figure was 16.2 litres for men & 2.7 litres for women. bit.ly/3eU51FK

@CyrilRamaphosa Based on these figures, #SouthAfrica ranked 50th out of 195 countries for total alcohol consumed per capita in 2016.

Moldova took the top spot with a per capita consumption of 15.2 litres, followed closely by Lithuania (15 litres) & the Czech Republic (14.4 litres).

@CyrilRamaphosa #SouthAfrica’s average per capita consumption was 1.45 times higher than the global average, which was 6.4 litres per person in 2016.

The average consumption in sub-Saharan #Africa was 6.3 litres per person. bit.ly/3eU51FK

@CyrilRamaphosa #FYI: Almost 70% of South Africans over 15 abstained from drinking alcohol in 2016. The issue in South Africa is high levels of binge drinking among those *who do drink*, experts say (Read: bit.ly/2RF7cDz).

@CyrilRamaphosa Of those South Africans who drink, 59% of them engage in “heavy episodic drinking” or binge drinking. @WHO defines this as consumption of “60 or more grams of pure alcohol on at least one occasion at least once per month”. bit.ly/3eU51FK

@CyrilRamaphosa Standard drink measures vary from country to country but in #SouthAfrica, a person could be considered a binge drinker if they drink four 340ml bottles of beer or 600 millilitres of white wine in one sitting. bit.ly/3eU51FK

@CyrilRamaphosa In 2016, #SouthAfrica ranked 23rd out of 195 countries for heavy episodic drinking among those who drink. bit.ly/3eU51FK