[The public health political status of alcohol drinking in West Germany].

During the last years the per-capita-consumption of pure alcohol in the Federal Republic of Germany is slightly decreasing. In 1986 every person consumed an average of 11.5 litres of pure alcohol (146.4 litres of beer, 23.3 litres of wine and 6.1 litres of spirits). The amount of the alcohol addicts must be estimated at about 1.5 to 1.8 million people. Among the alcohol-abusers and alcohol-addicts the rate of mortality, caused by accidents, physical diseases and suicides is many times higher than among the non-drinking or rarely drinking population. Alcoholism liver-cirrhosis and pancreatitis are responsible for about 20.000 deaths per annum and for the loss of 400.000 years of life.