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Young Brits Are Drinking Less But Go Crazy When They Do

New figures from the Office of National Statistics show that while Brits aged 16 to 25 consume less alcohol than older demographics, when they do drink, they're more likely to binge.
Phoebe Hurst
London, GB
Photo via Flickr user linmtheu

Get ready to wake up with a national case of The Fear, Britain. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has been tracking your drinking habits and it's not pretty. All those midweek shots and sneaky well-just-one-can't-hurt glasses of wine you thought might have slipped through the net? They're all here, laid out for our collectively hungover eyes to feast on (followed by a large cheese toastie, please).

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Released yesterday, the new government figures show that millions of Britons are regularly exceeding recommended alcohol limits. Of the people surveyed, 58 percent drank alcohol in a typical week, with 9 percent consuming the recommended weekly limit of alcohol in a single day. That's 2.5 million Brits smashing more than 14 units (equivalent to seven glasses of wine or 14 single whiskeys) each in one night. Nice work, Britain.

READ MORE: Rich Educated People Drink the Most Out of Any of Us

Wine was the most popular drink for these heavy drinkers, followed by beer, stout, lager, or cider. Unsurprisingly, just one in a hundred chose alcopops as their tipple of choice. Brits may be shameless boozehounds, but we attempt to maintain at least a little self-respect.

ONS researchers also examined the income of Britain's drinkers, finding that those earning £40,000 or more annually were more than twice as likely to be frequent drinkers compared to those on less than £10,000 a year. One in five of these high earners drank at least five days a week, reflecting recent stats from Gallop which showed that rich, educated Americans get on the sauce more regularly than other demographics.

The statistics did hold some good news for Britain's livers. The proportion of people drinking each week has dropped from 64 percent in 2005 to 58 percent, perhaps down to national sobriety initiatives such as Dry January.

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Young people were also found to be more responsible with their booze intake than their parents or grandparents. Compared to older groups, Brits aged between 16 and 24 years were less likely to have drunk alcohol in the week previous to the ONS survey.

READ MORE: I'm a Drunk Who Runs A Bar

Commenting on the findings, ONS statistician Jamie Jenkins said: "It's clear from these figures that although there are now more people, especially younger ones, who don't drink alcohol at all, there is still a significant group of other people who are drinking well in excess of the latest health advice."

Before you start congratulating yourself on how health conscious you are compared to all these beer-bellied grandpas, hear this: when young Brits do drink, they go HAM. Those 16 to 24-year-olds who did consume alcohol were more likely than any other age group to drink over 14 units in one day. Seventeen percent had done so, compared to just 11 percent of 25 to 44-year-olds.

Well, at least we can wash it all away with a really great brunch tomorrow morning.