Bulgaria remains among the countries with the highest levels of alcohol consumption – both in Europe and worldwide. According to WHO data for 2022, the average person over 15 years old in our country drinks an average of 11.2 liters of pure alcohol per year. Of these, approximately 4.7 liters are beer, 1.2 liters are wine, 5.1 liters are spirits and 0.2 liters are other types of alcohol. For many, this seems "normal" and even a source of pride, but the price for society often goes unnoticed. Here we have summarized the main consequences of such high alcohol consumption.
At first glance, 11.2 liters may not seem like a big deal, until we take into account the actual volume consumed. In the case of beer, 4.7 liters of pure alcohol is equivalent to approximately 188 standard 500 ml bottles with an alcohol content of 5%. In the case of wine, 1.2 liters of pure alcohol is equivalent to almost 13.3 bottles of 750 ml with an alcohol content of 12%. And 5.1 liters of pure alcohol in the "strong" category equals approximately 18.2 bottles of distillate of 700 ml with an alcohol content of 40%.
In short, this means the following: on average, during one year, a Bulgarian over the age of 15 drinks one pint of beer (500 ml) every other day, one glass of wine (about 150 ml) every four days, and a small bottle (50 ml) of rakia or other distillate two out of three days. And this is rather a "mild" picture. The actual consumption of wine and homemade alcohol is probably higher than the official data, as part of the production is never included in the statistics.
It is important not only how much is drunk on average, but also how the most avid consumers drink. According to the WHO, by 2025, 9.1% of Bulgarians over the age of 15 will be heavy chronic alcoholics. For men, this share is 16.6%, and for women - 2.1%. This group includes people who drink more than 60 ml of pure alcohol every day - the equivalent of 1.2 liters of beer, half a liter of wine or 150 ml of distilled alcohol per day.
This pattern of alcohol consumption has obvious consequences. According to WHO data for 2019, alcohol "costs" Bulgarians an average of 6.4 years of healthy life (DALY) - an indicator measuring the years of productive life lost due to illness or premature death. For men, the loss is 9.5 years, and for women - 2.7. In other words, alcohol literally "shortens" the time during which people live without serious illnesses.
Mortality is also a problem. The age-adjusted percentage of alcohol-related deaths per 100,000 people (2019) is 38.9. For men, the percentage is 70.3, while for women it is 13. If only alcohol-related cancers are considered, the mortality rate is 10.7 per 100,000 people - 18.9 for men and 4.3 for women. For liver cirrhosis, the percentages are a total of 15.7 - 27.5 for men and 5 for women. Alcohol is also the cause of some fatal accidents: 4.1 deaths per 100,000 people, with the percentage being 6.8 for men and 1.4 for women. Statistics clearly show that men bear the main burden. However, the problem begins much earlier - in school. According to 2024 data from the European School Research Project ESPAD, over 40% of Bulgarian students have drunk alcohol for the first time before the age of 13. Over 14% have also been drunk at least once before the age of 13. About a quarter of the students consumed alcoholic beverages more than 10 times during the year, and another 25% - between 3 and 9 times.
Access to alcohol for minors seems easy. Over 73% of students believe that beer is easily accessible, for wine this share is over 62%, and for strong alcohol - over 56%. This suggests that the ban on the sale of alcohol to minors is not applied universally or its application is weak.
And finally, there is also the issue of taxes. Excise duties on alcohol in our country are among the lowest in the EU. Currently, the excise duty for a standard box of beer with 5% alcohol content is about 9.6 stotinki. For spirits with an alcohol content of 40%, the excise duty is approximately 3.08 leva for a 700 ml bottle. Wine is exempt from excise duty, as it is in nine other EU countries. It is logical to expect these levels, and thus the final prices, to increase in the medium and long term. The price almost always influences consumer behavior – for some this will mean fewer drinks, while for others it will mean more "homemade brew", for which the state does not receive any tax at all.