Alcohol deaths in baby boomers over 50 years old jump in the UK

The number of alcohol-specific deaths in people aged 50 and over has risen 45 per cent since 2001, prompting fresh warnings about excessive drinking among baby boomers.

Last year there were 5,208 deaths of people aged 50-plus wholly attributable to alcohol, compared with 3,582 in 2001, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures published on Tuesday.

Over the same period, the number of alcohol-specific deaths remained stable among under-50s – it was exactly the same for 15-49-year-olds – 2,118 – last year as 15 years previously.

Although the number of older people in the UK has risen, the alcohol-specific death rates (per 100,000 of population) has also increased among those aged 55 and over, while falling for all younger age groups.

Dr Tony Rao, the co-chair of substance misuse in the older people working group at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: “The latest statistics are a wake-up call to the rising problem of alcohol misuse in a generation of baby boomers that need urgent consideration by our public health and clinical services in the UK.

“What we need to be doing is having a greater focus on commissioning services for people with more severe drinking problems and that doesn’t seem to be happening with the fragmentation of addiction services.”