According to a new survey, 18-24 year olds and people living in Northern England are the most likely groups in the UK to change or consider changing their drinking habits after learning about alcohol use and misuse.

The findings are from ongoing research into who visits www.drinkaware.co.uk, how the site is used and whether it has a positive effect on consumers’ drinking attitudes and habits.  drinkaware.co.uk is the consumer website from The Drinkaware Trust, the UK’s leading responsible drinking charity and helps consumers make informed decisions about drinking. It currently receives over eighty thousand hits and three thousand users per day.  Since the survey commenced in June this year nearly three thousand responses have been collated.

When asked whether they were likely to change their drinking habits as a result of visiting drinkaware.co.uk, 59% of people said they would or would consider doing so. The survey has shown that men and women are almost equally likely to make changes but that there are considerable variations throughout the regions and according to age.

The results suggest that younger people are leading the way towards making positive changes. 65% of 18 to 25 year olds said they would change or consider changing their drinking habits making them nearly twice as likely to do so as those aged 66 or over.

People living in the North of England, closely followed by those in Northern Ireland and Scotland are the most likely to reconsider their drinking habits after visiting drinkaware.co.uk.  People living in Wales are the least likely to make changes although one in two say they will alter or consider altering their habits.

Other survey findings show that the vast majority of users are consumers using the site for their own personal information and that the most popular resource on the site is the unit calculator which allows consumers to work out exactly how many alcohol units are in their favourite drinks and a whole range of branded products. 

70% of visitors who have taken part in the survey say that they find the site useful and that they will recommend it to others.  Users have said:

“It’s helpful and informative without being patronising”

“It told me things that I did not know about alcohol, which I shall pass on”

“Informative, interesting, educational and helpful.  Keep going and thanks for being there”

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1st October 2007

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Notes for Editors:

1. The findings detailed in this press release are based upon 2 months of survey responses between 26th June and 26th August 2007.  The total number of responses was 2,030.
2. Appendix 1 includes tables detailing facts and figures from the survey findings.
3. Drinkaware is an independent UK charity that aims to change public behaviour and the national drinking culture by providing people with practical advice and information. For more information about Drinkaware please visit the corporate website www.drinkawaretrust.org.uk
4. Drinkaware’s flagship website – www.drinkaware.co.uk – provides information about responsible drinking to consumers. It currently receives over two and a half million hits every month.
5. Drinkaware fulfils a challenge set by Government in the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for an industry supported fund to provide education, information and campaigning activity for consumers.