German addiction researchers call for stricter alcohol rules

Addiction researchers called for stricter rules and higher prices for alcohol sales in Germany in an annual report that said the country still had above-average consumption and one of the least restrictive alcohol laws in Europe.

The German Centre for Addiction Issues (DHS), which published the report on Thursday, complained of "major deficits in alcohol policy."

Report co-author Carolin Kilian said even simple alcohol control measures could help reduce Germany's still high alcohol consumption, as well as the related burden of disease and costs.

She said there was scientific evidence from countries such as Sweden and Lithuania that certain regulatory measures were well suited to reducing alcohol consumption in the population and its negative consequences. These included higher excise taxes, restrictions on the constant availability of alcohol and marketing bans.

Germany has no tax on wine and the tax on beer is also very low, Kilian said. Raising those tax rates would be a simple measure that could directly and effectively change behaviour, she added.

She also said it would be desirable for alcohol not to be available everywhere at all times, suggesting a sales ban at petrol stations as "at least a start."

Although Germans now consume less alcohol overall than they did more than 15 years ago, average per-capita consumption has stagnated at what the DHS said was still too high a level.

According to the DHS yearbook, Germans drank an average of about 11 litres of pure alcohol per person in 2024, more than the European average.

Experts in the yearbook stressed that even occasional drinking carried increasing health risks.

According to the World Health Organization, alcohol is linked to up to 200 diseases. The yearbook attributes about 44,000 deaths to alcohol consumption.