A national emergency

People in Scotland’s poorest postcodes are three times as likely to die from alcohol abuse as those in the wealthiest areas.

The place with the highest percentage of deaths caused by alcohol was Orkney, where alcohol was to blame in 4% of all deaths last year.

There were 23 alcoholrelated deaths for every 100,000 Scots last year.

In Aberdeenshire and East Dunbartonshire, two of the wealthiest council areas in Scotland, the rate was 11 deaths for every 100,000 Scots.

By contrast, Glasgow’s rate was 34 and Inverclyde’s was 38.

There is an average of 24 alcohol-related deaths every week in Scotland – a rate that has doubled in 40 years.

Official figures from the National Records of Scotland show the number of alcoholrelated deaths in 1979 was 641, this steadily increased to a peak of 1546 in 2006, but then began to fall.

After a modern low of 1080 deaths in 2012 the rate has been steadily creeping up.

Public Health Minister Aileen Campbell said: “While progress has been made in tackling alcohol misuse, we want to go further.

“That’s why we need minimum unit pricing and our Framework for Action outlines more than 40 measures to reduce alcohol-related harm, including the quantity discount ban, a ban on irresponsible promotions as well as a lower drink drive limit and our nationwide alcohol brief intervention programme.

“I will be refreshing our Alcohol Strategy this year to further consider the additional actions and steps needed to tackle alcohol-related harm.”