In 2003, beer consumed in pure alcohol units was 3.95 l per capita, and spirits consumed in pure alcohol units was 1.3 l per capita [6].
Data on the consumption of alcohol (measured in kilograms per capita, including spirits, beer and wine) and cigarettes (measured as packages per capita), as well as the household characteristic variables in Eq. 5, are from RHSS (various editions), which covers 27 provinces; Tibet is excluded from our analyses because of missing data, leaving 26 provinces.
The dependent variable y t is the annual per capita consumption of spirits in the United Kingdom.
In an ecological study in Spain, trends of per capita consumption of beer, spirits, and total alcohol consumption were positively correlated with oesophageal cancer mortality in men whereas wine consumption showed no relationship with oesophageal cancer mortality either in men or women[ 8].
The explanatory variables x t 1 and x t 2 are per capita income and price of spirits, respectively, both deflated by a general price index.
Yet whereas Europe's beer and spirits markets are in the doldrums, per-capita consumption of spirits in America is increasing, especially among young consumers.
"Where it's extremely cold it's not uncommon for people to drink all day long," said Val Smith, president of International Wine and Spirits, which provided the data on per-capita alcohol consumption.
Craig Wolf, president and CEO of the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America, Inc., says that per capita alcohol consumption has remained flat for the past 30 years even in the past six months.
Drinking: European countries were ranked 1 to 33 on the basis of per capita alcohol consumption during 2006, gathered by consultancy International Wine and Spirits.
One interesting example is the sharp increase in Danish spirits taxes in 1917 leading to a drop in per capita consumption by about 80% over 2 years.
