Young Germans are drinking like they did pre-COVID

About 30 times a year, the educator Viktoria Joelle Moll visits teenagers and young adults who have landed in a German hospital after consuming excessive amounts of alcohol.
She and her colleagues are particularly busy at Halloween and during carnival. They often call the local hospitals in the morning to find out who was admitted during the night and ask whether they can come in for a chat.
“Our experience in hospitals is that nobody is admitted because they’ve just had too much beer. This is about high-proof spirits mixed with soft drinks,” she told DW. 
Moll works for Update, a specialist addiction prevention and advice center for children, young people and parents in the German city of Bonn. The center offers talks, advice and workshops in schools to prevent young people from drinking to excess.
“The younger people are, the more important it is for them not only to be aware about drugs, alcohol and their effects, but also to learn to say ‘no,’ to be able to relax without drugs and to assert themselves in life,” said Moll.
Excessive drinking has increased since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic and, according to Germany’s Center for Health Education (BZgA), for the 18 to 25 age range, it has almost returned to pre-COVID levels.
Young men in particular are drinking much more. The BZgA found that 46% of those surveyed said that they drank to the point of intoxication. Among young women, this figure fell to 32%.
The survey also found that excessive drinking among young people aged 12 to 17 had also increased slightly. In this age group, 17% of boys said that they had already drunk to the point of intoxication before, whereas 10% of girls did.
Drinking to intoxication is understood by experts as the consumption of at least five glasses of alcohol for men and four for women.
Some 7,000 young people were surveyed between April and June 2023 for the Center’s regular Drug Affinity Study (DAS).
“It’s understandable that the numbers are high because public spaces were cut off during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was to be expected after the pandemic,” said Moll.
There are many explanations for alcohol consumption among young people. “One of the main reasons is the quick and easy availability of alcohol, especially in comparison with other countries,” Moll said. In Germany, 18-year-olds are allowed to buy any kind of alcohol and drink it in public. It is legal to buy and drink beer and wine from the age of 16 or 17. This makes Germany, alongside Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Luxembourg, one of the exceptions in Europe.
“[Drinking] also happens in different situations and at celebrations in our society,” said Moll. “It’s part of life and young people also say at workshops that at 18 they finally want to drink. As if were something on life’s checklist.”
Despite the initially alarming figures, there is also positive news: According to the study, the regular consumption of alcohol has become less attractive. Only around 39% of young men aged 18 to 25 stated that they drank at least once a week. Among young women, the figure was 18.2%. Among boys and girls, the figure was significantly lower again.
The age at which alcohol plays a role has also shifted by a year since 2004: On average, young people now have their first drink at the age of 15 instead of 14, and they first get drunk at 16.2 instead of 15.5.
Moll said that though the number of cases of intoxication had increased again, it was still lower than a few years ago. “Our conversations with children and young people in hospital are still on the decline.”
What’s more, she said, being admitted to hospital is initially a shock that can heal for many: “In our experience, the hospital stay alone is thought-provoking enough for most people. After most conversations, you can be pretty sure: This won’t happen to them again.”
This article was originally written in German.