Alkoholismus

Alcoholism: Drinking alcohol is a widespread and, for the most part, socially accepted custom. It is also, in terms of the number of victims, the most dangerous drug available. - Alcoholism is a disease; Austria has a large proportion of alcohol dependency, i.e. a high number of "addicts" in the medical sense of the term. Even much larger is the number of persons who are not alcoholics in the narrow sense of the term but whose intake of alcoholic beverages amounts to abuse. A particular source of concern is the rapid increase in alcohol abuse on the part of juveniles: about 14% of Austrians below the age of 20 is considered to be at risk. Approx. 5% of Austrians are considered alcoholics. With an average of 11 litres of pure alcohol consumption per capita per annum (1998), Austria has the third highest alcohol consumption of the EU (behind Luxembourg and France). In 1955 annual consumption amounted to 4.5 litres and it rose particularly in the 1970s. There are a number of rehabilitation centres for alcoholics in Austria, including one at Vienna-Kalksburg (founded in 1961).