Alcohol-specific deaths in Scotland at five year low

The number of alcohol-specific deaths in Scotland fell by 7% in 2024, according to new figures from National Records of Scotland.

There were 1,185 alcohol-specific deaths registered in 2024, 92 fewer than in 2023. This is the lowest annual figure since 2019.

Adjusted for age, the alcoholic-specific mortality rate was 20.9 deaths per 100,000 people, down from 22.5 in 2023.

Male deaths continued to account for around two thirds of alcohol-specific deaths. Both male and female deaths decreased in the past year.

Phillipa Haxton, Head of Vital Events Statistics, said:

“The number of alcohol-specific deaths decreased by 7% in 2024 compared with the previous year. This is the lowest figure since 2019, before the pandemic.

“The average age at death has risen over the last decade and is now 60 years for males and 58 for females.”

For all causes of death, the most deprived areas have a death rate twice as high as the least deprived. For alcohol-specific causes the rate is 4.5 times as high.

Glasgow City, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, West Dunbartonshire and Dundee City all had higher alcohol-specific mortality rates than the Scottish average in the period 2020-24.