More than 43,000 young people aged 15-24 are living with alcohol dependence across Ireland
Drinking by young people in Ireland has increased by 12 percentage points in the past decade, a new report has highlighted.
While drinking among young people declined from the mid-2000s to the mid-2010s, since 2015 that downward trend has reversed. Alcohol consumption by 15 to 24-year-olds rose, from 66 per cent in 2016 to 78 per cent in 2025.
Among young people who do drink, dangerous consumption patterns are common. Almost two-thirds (64 per cent) regularly binge drink, while one-in-three has an alcohol use disorder. This equates to 43,000 young people.
The statistics are outlined in a new report by Alcohol Action Ireland. ‘Youth drinking in Ireland: What’s the real picture?’ includes data from the 2025 Healthy Ireland Survey into drinking habits among the public.
“This updated report is an eye opener in terms of the scale and trajectory of youth drinking in Ireland, which has increased by 3 per cent in the past year alone,” said AAI CEO Dr Sheila Gilheany.
“In recent years a narrative has emerged that youth drinking is perhaps no longer an issue in Ireland. However, this report challenges that myth in no uncertain terms. The fact that there are more than 43,000 young people with alcohol dependence across Ireland should be a wake-up call for government to start taking meaningful action to curb youth drinking.
In 2019 young people in Ireland were, on average, 16.6 years old when they had their first alcoholic drink. In 2002 that number was 15.6 years. However, while young people are delaying alcohol initiation, once they begin drinking they consume alcohol at a level significantly above the national average (78 per cent v 71 per cent).
Every year approximately 50,000 children start drinking in Ireland. Childhood alcohol consumption is a known risk factor for later dependency.
The most recent data available showed that 16 per cent of all deaths in Europe among 15- to 19-year-olds were attributable to alcohol, while for 20- to 24-year-olds this figure was 23 per cent.
“We’ve seen some evidence of a slight delay in onset of drinking by Irish children but the pattern of drinking tends to be high-risk once drinking does start,” said Prof Bobby Smyth, Clinical Professor, Dept of Public Health & Primary Care, TCD.
“There is still a hard core of parents who insist that providing alcohol to their 15- and 16-year-old children is a good idea in spite of the evidence that it is in fact harmful, but the number of parents who recognise the folly of this permissive approach is growing. The unrelenting exposure of children to alcohol advertising and sponsorship does though mean that parents who do the right thing are swimming against a tide of more negative influence.”
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