Binge-drink habit on the rise among the French

Le binge-drinking – “beuverie express” is the government’s preferred term, defined as consuming more than six units on an occasion – has long been seen as an ‘“Anglo-Saxon” habit, but has been rising since 2005.

Now 16.2% of adults have at least one such “session” per month, public health body Santé Publique France says.

Brittany has the most binge- drinkers, at 20.5% of adults. The lowest level is in Île-de-France.

Alcohol is one of the main causes of avoidable death, with 41,000 deaths a year linked to it.

Guidelines say adults should drink no more than 10 small glasses of wine or beer per week.

The heaviest drinkers are in Occitanie and Nouvelle-Aquitaine, with 12.6% and 12.3% of adults having a drink every day. Third is Hauts-de-France (11.5%).

The national average is 10%. Regions with the fewest daily drinkers are Normandy (7.9%), Pays-de-la-Loire (8.1%) and Ile-de-France (7.1%).

The most recent UK survey defined binge-drinking as more than six units on a single day for a woman or eight for a man on a day in the previous week, and recorded this as 18% of men and 14% of women.

“Frequent” drinkers, defined as drinking on more than five days a week, were 12% and 8%.