Equal measures

British women drink more than most women. This surprising statistic becomes even more surprising when one considers the seven countries that supply harder-drinking women. They include Denmark, Sweden and Andorra. Andorra? It was once famed for duty-free goods, but do its women still draw scarcely a sober breath of Pyrenean air? British men, by contrast, are slouches at downing alcohol, at 62nd out of 195 nationalities. These statistics, however, are just as perilously easy to misinterpret, because it turns out that British men and women drink practically the same amount: three little glasses a day. Moreover, the extra risk of a tumble down stairs or ill health brought about by drinking a glass of wine a day is hard to identify: four in 100,000 cases. So a moderate toast can continue to be: “Health!”