About thirty times a year, Victoria Goel Mall visits hospitals to visit teenagers and young adults who need medical help after drinking too much alcohol. Demand for her help spikes during Halloween and Halloween. “In hospitals we don’t meet people who drank a few beers too, but people who usually consumed high-alcohol drinks mixed with so-called energy drinks,” he tells DW.

The educator works at Update, a specialist addiction prevention and counseling center for children, young people and parents, which is run by the evangelical aid organization Diakonie and the Catholic Caritas in Bonn. “The younger people are, the more important it is not only to know the effects of alcohol and drugs, but also to learn to say no, to be able to relax without drugs and to face life with confidence,” says Victoria Goel Mall.

After the end of the pandemic, binge drinking among young people in Germany increased. According to a poll by the Federal Center for Health Information, binge drinking among the 18- to 25-year-old age group has nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels. Young people in particular are drinking much more again.

In Germany alcohol is available almost everywhere

According to the Information Center, approximately 46% of respondents state that they drink until… they drop. The corresponding percentage among young women reaches 32%. At the same time, binge drinking among 12- to 17-year-olds is slightly increasing: About 17% of boys said they drink until they pass out. Girls at a rate of about 10%.

Experts define binge drinking as drinking at least five drinks for men and four for women. As part of the Federal Information Center’s Drug Use Survey, approximately 7,000 young people were polled between April and June 2023.

There are many reasons for alcohol consumption among young people. “One of the main reasons is the almost everywhere and always availability of alcohol compared to other countries,” says Victoria Goel Mol. In Germany, people 18 and over are allowed to buy high-alcohol drinks and drink them in public. From the age of 16 or 17 it is legal to buy beer and wine. This makes Germany one of the exceptions in Europe: apart from Germany, consumption is allowed from the age of 16 in only four other European countries: Belgium, Austria, Denmark and Luxembourg.

Hospitalization for binge eating makes young people think

Despite the alarming statistics there are also positive developments. According to the survey, frequent alcohol consumption has declined among young people. Only about 39% of young men aged 18 to 25 say they drink at least once a week. For women, the percentage is 18.2%. Among boys and girls, the rate was even lower.

It is also positive that the age at which alcohol starts to play a role has moved up by one year since 2004: Young people today have their first drink at the age of 15 rather than at 14. Now the first consumption of alcohol until..final decline is recorded at 16.2 years instead of 15.5.

The positives also include the introduction of young people to the hospital in a state of intoxication. “In our experience, hospitalization alone makes young people reflect on what happened. After the contacts we have with young people in the hospitals, there are many who say they are sure that something like this will not happen to them again”, concludes the German educator from the Update center.

Editor: Stefanos Georgakopoulos