Scottish alcohol sales fall to 26-year low

Alcohol sales in Scotland have dropped to the lowest levels in 26 years during 2020, an annual report from the Public Health Scotland has revealed.

According to the Monitoring and Evaluating Scotland’s Alcohol Strategy report, total alcohol sales have seen year-on-year decline of 5 per cent, the lowest figure recorded since 1994. The report has also found a 10 per cent reduction on the previous year in the number of deaths wholly caused by alcohol.

As the Covid-19 restrictions affected premises such as pubs, clubs and restaurants, nine in every ten units of alcohol were sold via off-trade outlets in 2020, an increase from seven in every ten units in the previous year.

“These figures demonstrate that the restrictions in place did not simply translate into an increase in the total amount of alcohol being consumed. In fact, the opposite is the case,” Scottish Public Health Minister Maree Todd commented.

Welcoming the figures in the report, Todd pledged further action on alcohol advertising and promotion.

“We continue to make progress in reducing inequalities across a number of public health areas – remaining focussed on addressing the underlying causes that drive health inequalities and doing more to address harms from alcohol. I am determined to build on this progress including consulting on potential restrictions to alcohol advertising and promotion,” she said.

Todd also credited Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) policy introduced in 2018 for the fall in sales. “We know that it will take longer for the full impact of reduced consumption to feed through into health related statistics, but I am more convinced than ever that MUP is one of the main drivers in reducing alcohol harms.”

The report has however shown that the alcohol consumption is still relatively high in Scotland, as the average number of units drunk during 2020 was nearly 30 per cent more than the UK Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines of drinking no more than 14 units a week.