Every night young women can be seen stumbling around on Britain's city streets, some so badly they need support to stand. Others can be seen vomiting in front of house entrances or lying comatose on pavements. Scenes such as these frequently appear in the British press and serve to highlight a predilection for something that British women are world champions in: binge drinking.
During weekends in particular it appears excessive drinking by British women has turned into a national pastime. "It's developed into a kind of culture," says Tom who works behind the bar in a pub on Leicester Square in London. However, binge drinking is also a social phenomenon. As Tom pours one beer after the next, a group of young women are sitting together, each with at least one empty pint glass and another half full glass standing in front of them.
"It's part of our afterwork routine," says one woman as she finishes a beer. For many British women the drinking does not stop with two pints - or about one litre - of beer. Binge drinking is more than twice as common among British women than among their peers in any other country, according to Ian Gilmore, president of Britain's Royal College of Physicians.
British women also begin consuming alcohol at a young age, according to a recently published study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The study discovered one-third of British girls between 13 and 15 years of age had been drunk at least twice.
In comparison, in Germany the figure is every sixth girl in the same age group. At least one quarter of British women between 16 and 24 admitted to engaging in binge drinking at least once a week. Britain's opposition politicians blame that rise on binge drinking and have called for more tax on high-alcohol drinks and a ban on drinks promotions in supermarkets.
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