THE COSTS OF THE DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL-ABUSE HAVE GROWN FASTER THAN ALCOHOL-CONSUMPTION IN FINLAND

Between 1980 and 1990 alcohol consumption in Finland grew on average by 2.4% per year, and most of the detrimental effects of alcohol abuse grew faster. The real costs from nearly all alcohol-related detrimental effects grew during the 1980s on average by 1.7-2.4% annually, depending on the item. As a result of the volume and cost development the direct detrimental effects of alcohol abuse grew from FIM 1.0-1.3 billion in 1980 to FIM 2.8-3.7 billion in 1990: i.e. a real increase of 51-56% in the direct costs of detrimental effects. The indirect costs of detrimental effects (production losses, value of life lost through premature death), was FIM 9.9-18.1 billion in 1990. In 10 years the distribution of the costs of direct detrimental effects changed markedly, in particular regarding health and social costs: the share of health costs decreased 6 percentage points, while that of social costs increased 10 percentage points.