Alcohol Outlet Availability and Harm in Scotland
Submitted by Jose Luis Vazquez Martinez
- 19 April 2018
Key Findings
Across the whole of Scotland, neighbourhoods with the highest alcohol outlet availability had significantly higher rates of alcohol-related health harm and crime.
- Alcohol-related death rates in neighbourhoods with the most alcohol outlets were double those in neighbourhoods with the least.
- Alcohol-related hospitalisation rates in neighbourhoods with the most alcohol outlets were almost double those in neighbourhoods with the least.
- Crime rates were more than four times higher in neighbourhoods with the most alcohol outlets as compared to the least.
- Alcohol outlet availability was found to be related to health and crime outcomes for both on-sales and off-sales outlets, and in both urban and rural local authorities.
- The relationships between availability and harm were found even when other possible explanatory factors, such as age, sex, urban/rural status and levels of income deprivation, had been taken into account.
- There were 40% more alcohol outlets in the most deprived neighbourhoods than in the least deprived neighbourhoods.
- From 2012 to 2016, the total number of alcohol outlets in Scotland increased by 472 to 16,629 (11,522 on-sales outlets and 5,107 off-sales outlets). This increase was driven by an increase in off-sales outlets.