The Development of Alcohol Consumption in the Netherlands: 1958–1981

Abstract

Summary Between 1958 and 1981 the increase in per capita consumption in the Netherlands was more than 300 per cent. Survey dam of 1958, 1970 and 1981 are used to study changes in mean consumption and in the frequency distribution of consumption of different subpopulations. In most subpopulations the percentage of abstainers did not show significant changes. Differences in mean consumption between subpopulations have generally become larger, especially between 1958 and 1970. All subpopulations with an increase in mean consumption, show a strong increase in percentage of drinkers in the highest consumption category. The opposite tendency, stable or decreasing percentages of drinkers in the highest consumption category in subpopulations with a stable or decreasing mean consumption, was not found in our data.