Alcohol: do we drink more or less in the Occitanie region than in the rest of France?

Santé Publique France has just updated its bulletins, region by region, on alcohol consumption habits in France, this Thursday May 2. If the latest figures recorded date from 2021, they still give a good idea of ​​regional trends in relation to the general behavior of the French. And good practices to adopt. In addition, emergency room visits have been updated with figures for 2023 (easier to track with the collaboration of hospitals).

Nationally, daily alcohol consumption concerns 8% of the population, compared to 24% in 1992. A figure sometimes matched by certain regions. This is for example in Occitania that we drink the most. The southern region of France obtains the title of region with the highest consumption of alcohol according to Santé Publique France. 11% of adults aged 18 to 75 surveyed say they consume alcohol daily. This proportion deviates significantly from that of the national level, which is only 8%, but remains lower than the previous year. “The share of daily alcohol consumers has decreased significantly since 2017,” specifies Santé Publique France. This decline is observed both among men (20% in 2017 and 16.6% in 2021) and among women (7.2% in 2017 and 5.6% in 2021).

Emergencies and alcohol

At the same time, 11,212 visits to the emergency room in 2023 are linked to alcohol consumption in this region, compared to 14,792 in 2017. As for significant occasional alcohol consumption, colloquially called drunkenness, the figure is below the national average. In Occitania, 15.6% of adults report drinking heavily each month, compared to 16.5% in France. “The proportion of visits to emergency rooms directly linked to alcohol is also decreasing. The year 2020, atypical due to the Covid-19 epidemic and the overall drop in emergency use, presents a greater share of activity, but a lower number of emergency visits than 2019,” details the report. .

However, it should be noted that in the region, the departments with a higher rate of visits to emergencies directly linked to alcohol, all types combined, were Gers and Tarn-et-Garonne. Conversely, Hérault has a lower rate. Among men, it is 0.73% in the department, compared to 0.94% in Occitanie. Same observation for women, with 0.39% and 0.47% respectively. Finally, 22.8% of 18-75 year olds surveyed claimed to exceed consumption benchmarks. A proportion equivalent to the French average (22%). This proportion in Occitanie is especially higher among men and for the highest income levels. As a reminder, alcohol is the second cause of preventable death after tobacco. It causes more than 40,000 deaths in France each year.

Follow all the news from your favorite cities and media by subscribing to Mon -.