Alcohol's Health Burden
Secondhand Harms Matter
ResearchPosted on rand.org Dec 31, 2025Published in: The Lancet Public Health, Volume 10, Issue 9, pages e723-e724 (September 2025). DOI: 10.1016/S2468-2667(25)00198-7
Estimating the global health burden of alcohol remains a priority for researchers and policymakers, providing necessary context for tracking policy progress and framing public discussion on the harmful effects of alcohol. In The Lancet Public Health, Kevin Shield and colleagues provide an updated assessment measuring the global health burden of alcohol. The evidence from their study suggests that global consumption rose 17.4% between 2000 and 2019, accounting for 2.6 million deaths and 4.6% of total disability-adjusted life years—a grim reminder of alcohol's societal toll and the slow progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals and WHO Noncommunicable Disease Global Monitoring Framework targets.
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Document Details
- Copyright: Max G. Griswold, Katherine J. Karriker-Jaffe ; Open Access
- Publisher: Elsevier Ltd
- Availability: Non-RAND
- Year: 2025
- Pages: 2
- Document Number: EP-71190
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