Key points from article :
Large number of people died from alcohol last year, which is likely to be the result of increased drinking during the pandemic.
There were 9,641 deaths in the UK in 2021, compared to 7,565 in 2019 - a 27% increase.
The ONS says people who were already big drinkers before the pandemic drank more during the Covid years.
Alcoholic liver disease accounted for one-third of all deaths linked to alcohol in 2021.
Alcohol-specific deaths per 100,000 people in 2021, by region, was reported as follows: Scotland, 22.4; Northern Ireland, 19.3; Wales, 15; England, 13.9.
As with previous years, men were twice as likely as women to die from alcohol.
Rates of alcohol-specific deaths in the UK remained pretty stable over seven years up to 2019, before going up in 2020 and 2021.
"It is unacceptable that one of the richest countries in the world, the rate of alcohol-related deaths was four times higher among men in the poorest areas compared to the most affluent," - Karen Tyrell, CEO at Drinkaware.
Drinkaware is now calling for a new co-ordinated UK-wide alcohol strategy to reduce the damage to society and public services.
An increase in alcohol duty (or tax) in the price paid for alcohol is seen as one way of reducing harm to drinkers, by discouraging the production and sale of cheap, high-strength alcohol.
The UK government is committed to simplifying the current system for alcohol duty, calling it complicated and outdated.
