Over 3.3 million people died from alcohol consumption in 2012, and the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on governments to take more action.
Alcohol consumption can lead to over 200 diseases such as liver cirrhosis and cancer, a WHO news release reported.
"More needs to be done to protect populations from the negative health consequences of alcohol consumption," Doctor Oleg Chestnov, WHO Assistant Director-General for Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, said in the news release. "The report clearly shows that there is no room for complacency when it comes to reducing the harmful use of alcohol."
Some countries are already working hard to protect their citizens from the harmful effects of alcohol. These efforts include: "taxes on alcohol, limiting the availability of alcohol by raising the age limit, and regulating the marketing of alcoholic beverages," the news release reported.
On average everybody over the age of 15 drinks 6.2 liters of alcohol annually. Less than half of the world's citizens do not drink alcohol, meaning those who do drink 17 liters of pure alcohol every year.
Men are believed to be more susceptible to alcohol-related death than women; 7.6 of men's deaths are caused by alcohol while only four percent of female deaths are linked to the substance.
"We found that worldwide about 16 [percent] of drinkers engage in heavy episodic drinking - often referred to as 'binge-drinking' - which is the most harmful to health," Doctor Shekhar Saxena, Director for Mental Health and Substance Abuse at WHO, said. "Lower-income groups are more affected by the social and health consequences of alcohol. They often lack quality health care and are less protected by functional family or community networks."
Europe has the highest consumption of alcohol per-capita; increases in consumption have been reported in regions such as South-East Asia and the Western Pacific regions.
