Sharp increase in amount of alcohol consumed by Dutch men

A decreasing number of Dutch consume alcohol, but those who do are drinking more and more, according to figures from the World Health Organization. According the the Dutch institution for alcohol policy STAP, the increase in alcohol consumption is especially significant among Dutch men, RTL Nieuws reports.

"If you compare the figures with those for 2010, you will see that fewer people start drinking in the Netherlands, but that male drinkers in particular have started drinking more and more", STAP said. "In 2010 15.1 liters of pure alcohol was consumed per drinking man, in 2016 that was 16.7 liters. An increase of 9.6 percent." Women who drink alcohol, in total, started drinking less. "Their use fell between 2010 and 2016 from 7.1 liters of pure alcohol per drinking woman, to 5.8 liters of pure alcohol per year."

According to the WHO, the average alcohol consumption per head of the population aged 15 older fell from 10.4 liters in the period 2009 to 2011 to 8.7 liters between 2015 and 2017 .The Netherlands is therefore below the European average of 9.8 liters of pure alcohol consumed per inhabitant per year. The proportion of non-drinkers in the country increased from 11.8 percent in 2010 to 27.9 percent in 2016.