Useful official advice on alcohol and your health (brochure)

I have recently produced a series of posts about wine availability and consumption in the Nordic countries, pointing out that it is not actually restricted, as is sometimes claimed. However, various parts of the government in, for example, Sweden do take alcohol consumption really quite seriously, healthwise. The World Health Organization (WHO) would be impressed.

As one example, my local municipal council (region Uppsala) has a web page about health, for locals. As part of this information they produce a brochure on alcohol use, which I think is very informative for everyone. Here, I have provided a translation from the original Swedish text. The original PDF file is available at: Alkohol och din hälsa.

The document is claimed to have been “compiled by specialists in the field of alcohol and health in the Uppsala Region and Uppsala Municipality”. It was last revised in January 2019, although it is still very current. You would be well advised to look through it, for your own edification.

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Region Uppsala

Alcohol and your health
How do you drink?

Alcohol affects health

Alcohol affects us in different ways. New studies show that no level of alcohol intake is completely risk-free. The risk of health problems increases the more you drink. How the body is affected by alcohol can vary. Even small amounts of alcohol can cause harm to children, adolescents, the elderly, and those with illness or medication. Alcohol should also be avoided during pregnancy, when caring for others, and before surgery.

Drinking alcohol often increases the risk of becoming addicted. Alcohol impairs judgment, thinking ability, and reaction ability. It can increase the risk of harming yourself or others in accidents. Being drunk always involves a risk.

Some examples where alcohol may be important:

• Sleep problems and headaches
• Depression and anxiety
• Reduced fertility
• Lowered immune system
• Poor wound healing
• Cardiovascular diseases
• Diabetes
• Psoriasis and skin problems
• Diseases and problems in the stomach, intestines and liver
• Cancer in the mouth and throat, gastrointestinal tract, breast and liver
• Dementia
• Brittle bones and gout
• In the event of accidents and relationship problems

Benefits of drinking less

You can have better general health and sleep. Your memory and ability to concentrate can improve and you can handle stress more easily. You also reduce your risk of developing various diseases.

Consider your own habits

• When do you drink beer, cider, wine or spirits?
• How often do you drink?
• How much do you drink at one time?
• How are you and others affected when you drink?
• What could you do if you wanted to drink less alcohol?

Risky alcohol use

Risky alcohol use involves drinking alcohol in a way that greatly increases the risk of physical, mental and social problems.

In Sweden, the term “standard glass” is commonly used to calculate how much you drink. A standard glass is the amount of drink that contains 12 grams of pure alcohol:

50 cl beer or cider (2.8–3.5%)
33 cl strong beer, strong cider or alcoholic soft drink (5%)
1 small glass (12 cl) wine (12.5%)
8 cl fortified wine (15–22%)
4 cl spirits, e.g. whiskey

A bottle of wine (75 cl) contains about 6 standard glasses.

Limits for hazardous alcohol consumption

Female: 4 standard drinks or more on the same occasion (for example, during an evening). 10 standard glasses per week (equivalent to just under 2 bottles of wine).

Male: 4 standard glasses or more on the same occasion (for example, during an evening). 10 standard glasses per week (equivalent to just under 2 bottles of wine).

Pregnant: For pregnant women, as well as children and young people, all use of alcohol is considered risky use.

Tips for those who want to drink less

• Write down how much alcohol you drink for a few weeks.
• Think about situations in which you can change your habits.
• Allow at least two days each week to be completely alcohol-free.
• Replace every other glass of alcoholic drink with water and thus halve the amount of alcohol you drink.
• Choose drinks without alcohol or with a lower alcohol content.

Did you know that …

• Alcohol contains a lot of calories, the higher the alcohol content, the more calories in the drink.
• One can of folk beer per day for a year is equivalent to approximately 19 full bottles of hard liquor.

How much do you drink?

Fill in how many standard glasses you drink per day during a week.

To compare different types of alcoholic beverages, use the standard glass measurement. For example, a standard glass is equivalent to:

Support for those who want to change their drinking habits

You can always turn to health care professionals for advice and support. There are prescription drugs that can reduce alcohol cravings. All health care clinics are confidential.

At the Alcohol Line there are counsellors who can provide information and support. Tel. 020-84 44 48 or info@alkohollinjen.se.

 

At alkoholhjalpen.se there are facts, tips and discussion forums. The services are free of charge and you can remain anonymous.

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Brochures like this are part of the increasing pressure on alcohol consumption, in the modern world (after all: Mid-strength wines may win where no-alcohol failed). Indeed, there is explicit pressure for wine labels to have health warnings, similar to those for tobacco packages. Indeed, recently: Alaska introduces cancer warnings to bars and liquor stores. Even the USA officially links alcohol and tobacco, as the United States Department of the Treasury has the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, and the United States Department of Justice has the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Sweden has not yet gone that far!

Long-term (mostly negative) trends in Nordic alcohol consumption

I have recently looked at current wine sales in some of the Nordic countries, with their government-owned alcohol retail monopolies (they are not big wine producers):

• Sweden
• Norway
• Finland

There is one final thing to look at, which is the long-term sales / consumption trends. This can be done using the data compiled by the Nordic Alcohol and Drug Policy Network (NordAN). To quote their website:

NordAN was established in September 2000 as a network of non-governmental, voluntary organisations that all worked to reduce the consumption of alcohol and other drugs, and who supported evidence-based alcohol and drug policy, and who did not receive contributions from the commercial alcohol industry.

They consider their work to be important because:

The Nordic [Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden] and Baltic [Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania] region has been an exciting laboratory for everyone interested in alcohol research and policy. With Nordic countries, we have a long and effective experience with WHO recommended alcohol policies, and with that one of the lowest alcohol consumption and harm rates in Europe.

So, I have reproduced here their graphs for the five Nordic countries, for total alcohol consumption not just wine, per capita. Unfortunately, they do not yet include the data for 2024, and for Iceland and Norway not even for 2023. Still, they do show the general trends since 2010.

Note, first, that the data for Denmark and Norway refer to sales, while the data for Finland, Iceland and Sweden refer to consumption, which is not necessarily quite the same thing.

Norway (in the first graph, above), shows a downward trend in sales from 2010 until 2015 (to 90% of the 2010 level), followed by a plateau until 2019, and a massive spike in 2020—2022, although the sales are now returning to the 2010 level. This peak coincides with the Covid-19 pandemic, of course, which spread rapidly from 2020. Presumably the Norwegians stayed at home a lot more, in a form of voluntary lock-down (cf. Bay Area drinking 42% more alcohol than usual while sheltering in coronavirus pandemic).

Denmark (in the second graph) shows a plateau in sales for most of the time, after a dip in 2012. There is then a spike in 2021, which may be related to that in the Norway data (July 2021 was the summer of the delta Covid variant). Note, also, that Denmark does not have a government-owned retail monopoly on alcohol sales, unlike the other Nordic countries. Apparently, Danish wine imports remained stable in 2024, although there was reportedly an increased concentration on wine producers from the EU (Italy, France and Spain accounted for 65% of Denmark’s total wine import volume, with Portugal and Germany making up another 25%).

Finland (in the third graph) shows a rapidly decreasing trend, so that 2023 is only 75% of the 2010 number. This cannot be good for the suppliers, although it refers to consumption not sales. However, this trend is definitely in line with current World Health Organisation policy (Recent science reports suggesting that wine alcohol is usually safe to drink), although compare with: The WHO is making a mistake about state-owned alcohol retailers.

Iceland (in the next graph) refutes these previous data by showing a rise (of 15%) in consumption from 2010 until 2015, followed by a plateau, with a spike in 2021. Note that the years 2015 and 2021 appear in several of these country patterns.

Sweden (in the fifth graph) has shown a very slow decline (of 15%) in consumption throughout most of the time. There is not much of a pandemic—related rise.

So, with the exception of Iceland, there is a general downward trend here, with apparent Covid-19 spikes to one extent or another. Indeed, as suggested by NordAN, with their relatively low alcohol sales / consumption, the Nordic countries can be worth looking at long-term. Other countries are also reporting drops, of course (eg. Ireland sees 4.5% drop in alcohol consumption), so that the global wine situation has been negative since 2017, as shown in the final graph (from the International Organisation of Vine and Wine, OIV). This is occurring because younger people are not drinking wine to the same extent as their forebears, worldwide (eg. The social role of alcohol is changing).

The relative consistency of each Nordic situation is certainly in distinct contrast to the situation elsewhere, especially in the USA (eg. Inside NYC’s wine retail apocalypse), where the multitude of retailer types yields a multitude of economic situations. Incidentally, The 7 happiest countries to live in apparently include: 1 Finland, 2 Denmark, 4 Iceland, 6 Norway, and 7 Sweden. Mind you, it has also been noted that the Top 10 most expensive countries to live in include: 2 Norway, 3 Iceland, and 5 Denmark. (NB: Iceland and Norway are not members of the European Union, but are members of the European Economic Area).

Finns do not like wine in their alcohol–retailer monopoly

I have recently reported that both Swedes (What countries are best represented in Sweden’s wine retailer monopoly?) and Norwegians (How well do wine-producing countries do in Norway’s wine retailer monopoly?) both actually do quite well, in terms of the availability of products in their respective alcohol–retailer monopolies. Here, I report that in some ways Finns do both better and worse.

The Finnish government-owned alcohol retailer is called Alko (= Alcohol). It was founded in 1932, and is the only company allowed to sell beverages with an alcohol content >8% in Finland. (NB. wine is typically 12%—14.5% ABV; regular beers are around 5—6% ABV, while stronger craft beers can have an ABV of 6—10%) There are 368 Alko stores and 143 order pick-up points, which is not too bad for a population 5.6 million people, with c. 80% 18 years or older.

So, first, note that normal retail shops can sell full-strength beers and light wines, unlike in Sweden or Norway (where they can sell only light beers). Second, note that there are somewhat more stores than in Norway, in spite of very similar population structures. So, the Finns do quite well, compared to other Nordic countries (I have not yet discussed Denmark in these posts).

The Alko web site indicates that the number of separate items is as shown in the first table. Note that the number is considerably less than in Norway (= 36,148), which is the obvious comparison. This is due, at least partly, to the fewer beers, as expected. However, all of the country numbers are considerably less, as well. Note that the USA does not do too well (see below). France does 50% better than Italy, which does 50% better than Spain.

The Alko web page has versions in Finnish, Swedish and English. The second one is due to the large number of alcohol-buying tourists, as there are daily tourist boats across the Baltic, from Stockholm to Helsinki.

The Alko web site says:
“Alko is a different kind of store. We are legally required to sell alcoholic beverages in a way that reduces the harmful effects of alcohol. Our role has remained the same since 1932 ... Alko's mission is to sell alcohol responsibly and to serve both our customers and Finland’s welfare society as best we can. Our extensive selection brings the whole world to our customers’ fingertips.”

If we take a look specifically at wine, then the Alko collection looks like the second table (click to enlarge). Note that each row simply lists the countries in decreasing order, stopping when it gets to the USA.

These numbers are terrible when compared to those for Norway, being about one quarter in all cases. Finns apparently are not much interested in vinous beverages. Perhaps they prefer low-alcohol versions, which are not necessarily in the Alko stores? Certainly, full-strength wine is not a major contributor to the Finnish economy (unlike its position in the USA: Wine is a major American economic engine).

Anyway, Finland supplies 1,131 alcohol products in the stores, which include: 496 distilled (44%), 340 beer (30%), 100 mixed drinks (9%), 91 fortified (8%), and 34 cider (3%). The large number of distilled beverages include: 166 Liqueur & Bitters, 161 Gin & Other Spirits, 127 Vodka & Spirits, 35 Whisky, and 7 Rum. Also, the 375 USA products include: 175 Red wine (47%), 78 distilled (21%), 70 white wine (19%), and 39 beer (10%).

So, in terms of wine availability, the Finns do not appear to do as well as either the Norwegians or the Swedes, in spite of all three having their government officially owning the alcohol retailer. Iceland also has a government-owned alcohol retailer, Vínbúðin (= The Wine Shop), which is apparently quite strict (Do strict alcohol policies really work?). The remaining Nordic country, Denmark, does not even have an alcohol monopoly system (see: Danish wine imports remained stable in 2024). Interestingly, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, which are self-governing entities within the state of Denmark, do have such retail monopolies.

Finally, it is worth noting that: The Finnish retail alcohol market is being liberalised. Having a government-owned retail store is contrary to official European Union policy, and Finland is finally starting to follow this guideline (it joined the EU in 1995). Sweden was granted an exception for Systembolaget (when it also joined in 1995), but has not yet made any moves to change this. Indeed, the changed Finnish law is creating international tension (How easing of monopoly laws could shift Nordic alcohol markets).

In contrast to this, there is also this sort of attitude: WHO/Europe highlights Nordic alcohol monopolies as a comprehensive model for reducing alcohol consumption and harm. Alcohol consumption is recorded as being lower in the Nordic countries, and this is sometimes attributed to the psychological effect of the government monopoly ownership. This is, indeed, one possible part of Nordic societal attitudes.

One other thing that you may not know about Finland:

• Finland was the first nation in the world to give all adult citizens full suffrage, in other words the right to vote and to run for office, in 1906. Previously, all countries had given this right only to males (and sometimes not even then!).

How well do wine-producing countries do in Norway’s wine retailer monopoly?

I have recently produced a series of posts about wine availability in Sweden, pointing out that it is not actually restricted, as is sometimes claimed (The availability of older wine vintages in a wine monopoly; The broad availability of United States wine in Sweden’s wine retailer; What countries are best represented in Sweden’s wine retailer monopoly?).

Well, it turns out that Norwegians also do quite well when they purchase wines. Their government-owned alcohol retailer is called Vinmonopolet (= The Wine Monopoly). It was founded in 1922, and is the only company allowed to sell beverages with an alcohol content >4.75% in Norway (NB. wine is typically 12%—14.5% ABV; regular beers are around 5—6% ABV, while stronger craft beers can have an ABV of 6—10%). There are 331 Vinmonopolet locations, which is not too bad for a population 5.6 million people, with 4.5 million (80%) 18 years or older.

Their web site indicates that the number of separate items is as shown in the first table. Note that the USA does not do too badly, although this may change any time soon. France does twice as well as Italy, which does twice as well as Germany. It is worth noting at this point that Norway is not part of the European Union.

Their web site says:
“The primary goal of Vinmonopolet is to responsibly perform the distribution of alcoholic goods while limiting the motive of private economic profit from the alcohol industry. Equally significant is the social responsibility of Vinmonopolet, to prevent the sale of alcohol to minors and visibly inebriated customers.”

If we take a look specifically at wine, then the Vinmonopolet collection looks like the second table (click to enlarge). Note that each row simply lists the countries in decreasing order, stopping when it gets to the USA. Note also: Sparkling wine = atmospheric pressure of 5—6 atmospheres, while Bubbly wine = 1—2.5 atmospheres. Strong wine = fortified wine.

Clearly, red wine is preferred to white, and sparkling to rosé. The USA also has 260 beers, and 124 distilled spirits. Norway itself has 909 beers, 774 distilled spirits, 247 ciders, and 117 meads.

So, all in all, the Norwegians do just as well as the Swedes, in terms of wine availability, in spite of their government officially owning the retailer.

Other things that you may not know about Norway include (see also: 25 fascinating facts about Norway, and 14 Misconceptions tourists have when coming to Norway):

• The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo (the other prizes are in Stockholm, Sweden, since Alfred Nobel was a Swede) — this caused a sensation at the time of Nobel’s will, because Sweden and Norway formed a union at the time (1901), but Norway was arguing for independence (which it got in 1905)
• there is a small village called Hell (many tourists may be spotted snapping a photo of themselves in front of the station sign)
• skiing both modern (the Telemark ski) and ancient (4,000 year old rock carving) were invented in Norway
• the cheese slicer was invented in Norway, way back in 1925
• there are two versions of the Norwegian language — Bokmål is used by the vast majority of the country, while Nynorsk is more popular in rural areas.