The 400-page report, funded by the European Commission (EU) and written by the London-based Institute of Alcohol Studies, said an estimated 23 million Europeans (5 percent of men, 1 percent of women) are addicted to alcohol.

    Ireland has one of the highest levels of alcohol consumption in the EU and the biggest binge-drinkers in Europe, according to the report, which is titled "Alcohol in Europe: a public health perspective."

    Around 32 percent of Irish 15 to 16-year-olds engage in binge drinking at least three times a month.

    British drinkers binge about once every 13 days - 28 days a year - the second-highest rate in Europe behind Ireland and Finland, both on 32 times.

    The shocking report also found teenage girls in Britain have overtaken boys as binge drinkers for the first time and are now second only behind Irish girls in Europe.

    As well as the negative effects for the drinker, the report also highlighted the scale of alcohol-related harm, which cost the European Union billions of euros in social and health expenditure.

    It found 10,000 bystanders or passengers are killed by drink driving, and 2,000 murders each year are drink related. Heavy drinking is also responsible for 60,000 underweight births and five to nine million children live in families ravaged by alcohol.

    The report added that alcohol is the third worst public health problem in Europe after tobacco and high blood pressure. Enditem

(Agencies)