Danish kids drunkest in Europe, Turks most sober

STOCKHOLM - Danish youngsters get drunk most, their Czech peers like to smoke cannabis, the Irish are more prone to binge-drinking and young Turks are the cleanest-living in Europe, according to a new survey.

The European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs (ESPAD), looking at the drinking, smoking and drug-taking habits of youngsters around the age of 16 from 35 countries in 2003, was released on Tuesday.

The poll showed that 36 per cent of Danish kids had been drunk 20 times or more in their lifetime, with the next highest being the Irish at 30 per cent.

Fifty per cent of Danish youngsters had also consumed alcohol 40 times or more in their lifetime, compared with 48 per cent of young Austrians and 46 per cent of young Czechs.

The Netherlands topped the league of those who had drunk alcohol 10 times or more in the last 30 days, at 25 per cent.

Binge drinking, defined as five drinks in a row, was most common in Ireland with 32 per cent of respondents, followed by the Dutch and Germans at 28 per cent and Britain and the Isle of Mann at 27 per cent.

Czech youngsters were most likely to consume cannabis, at 44 per cent, followed by the Swiss at 40 per cent.

The most abstemious youngsters were in mainly Muslim Turkey, which came lowest in consumption in most of the categories.

The survey, co-ordinated by Sweden's Council for Information on Alcohol and Other Drugs, was done via questionnaires filled in anonymously by students in the classroom.

The sample size varied from 555 in Greenland to 6000 in Poland. The average age was 15.8 years.

- REUTERS