The Myth of Europeans

Myth: Europeans let their kids drink at an early age, yet they do not have the alcohol-related problems we do.

Fact: This popular myth, which is referred to as the “European Myth”, was dispelled by the facts of the 2003 European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs and the United States 2003 Monitoring the Future report.

What was discovered is that in most European countries, young people have higher intoxication rates than in the United States, and less than a quarter had lower or equivalent rates to the United States.

Also, a greater percentage of young people in a majority of European countries report binge drinking at higher rates then compared to their US counterparts. And that some European youth have higher rates of alcohol-related problems because of their heavy drinking.

Perhaps the best example of fact versus myth when it comes to the “European Myth” is a look at what happened in New Zealand. In 1999, New Zealand lowered its purchase age from 20 to 18. Not only did drunk driving crashes increase, but youth started to drink earlier, binge drinking escalated, and in the 12 months following the decrease in legal drinking age, there was a 50 percent increase in intoxicated 18- and 19-year-old patients at the Auckland Hospital emergency room.

Clearly, Europe has serious issues with youth alcohol use.