2019 Alcohol-Specific Deaths statistics

Date published: 02 February 2021

NISRA has today released the annual alcohol-specific deaths report for deaths registered in 2019 in Northern Ireland.

The number of alcohol-specific deaths in 2019 was the highest on record, with 336 (2.1%) of the 15,758 registered deaths being due to alcohol-specific causes. This is over a third (34.9%) more than was recorded ten years ago (249), and 18.3 per cent higher that the 2018 total of 284.
Nearly two-thirds (62.5%) of the 336 deaths were male (210), with 37.5% female (126). This is the highest number and proportion of female alcohol-specific deaths recorded in Northern Ireland. Between 2018 and 2019 the alcohol-specific mortality rate increased for both males and females. The rate for males increased from 21.2 per 100,000 males to 22.5; for females the equivalent rate rose from 9.2 per 100,000 females to 13.1.
In recent years the proportion of those who died from alcohol-specific causes that are aged 55-64 has increased; in 2019 this age group accounted for over a third of such deaths (35.4 per cent), while those aged 45-54 accounted for 27.1 per cent of the total.
In 2015 to 2019 the death rate in the most deprived areas (30.3 deaths per 100,000 population) is three times higher than that in the least deprived areas (8.3 deaths per 100,000 population).
Alcohol specific deaths are deaths resulting from health conditions that are a direct consequence of alcohol misuse.

Further statistics on Alcohol-specific deaths can be found at Alcohol Deaths.

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