46% is the number of young people aged 18 to 25 who have already experienced alcohol intoxication during the year. This figure comes from the 2014 Health Barometer of Inpes, the National Institute for Prevention and Health Education, which also reveals that excessive alcohol consumption has been on the rise among young people for 10 years.
“Alcohol consumption among young people is of particular concern. The search for intoxication is truly marked in the younger generations, ”warns François Bourdillon, director general of Inpes. “In 10 years, the proportion of 18-25 year olds who have experienced drunkenness in the year rose from 33% to 46% and the share of those having known at least three has almost doubled, from 15% to 29%. “
After analyzing these results by gender and professional situation, Inpes reveals that the upward trends are particularly marked among young women, and more specifically among students. Conversely, we rather observe a tendency towards stability regarding alcohol consumption among students.
Thus, repeated intoxication (at least 3 per year) concerns 28% of female students (against 19% in 2010 and 8% in 2005). Regular drunkenness (at least 10 per year) affects 11% of 18-25 year old students, against 7% in 2010 and only 2% in 2005.
Binge-drinking, a generational behavior
The phenomenon of ” binge-drinking Which consists in swallowing as much alcohol as possible in a search for an immediate state of drunkenness has greatly developed in recent years. According to the results of the Inpes Barometer, this phenomenon is above all generational. It is mainly observed in teenagers and young adults: 14% of 15-24 year olds, 10% of 25-34 year olds and 6% of 35-44 year olds practiced it during 2014.
In the end and according to the results of Inpes, young people consume rather occasionally (less than 2% of young people drink daily) but intoxication intensifies. At the same time, the alcohol consumption gap between the sexes is narrowing.
“The consumption patterns of our young people are similar to those of Anglo-Saxon countries,” said François Bourdillon, quoted in the press release. In order to maintain a policy of combating these dangerous behaviors, the health bill includes proposals to punish more severely the drunkenness of young people. Encouraging excessive consumption could be sanctioned a fine of 15,000 euros and one year’s imprisonment.
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