Table 5.5

Reported frequency of drinking alcohol, by minority ethnic group

Aged 16 and over							1999
Frequency of drinking alcohol in past year	Minority ethnic group						General population
	Black
Men	Caribbean	Indian	Pakistani	Bangladeshi	Chinese	Irish
Observed %
Almost every day	11	10	1	1	8	18	18
Five or six days a week	3	3	0	-	0	7	6
Three or four days a week	13	12	1	1	8	20	19
Once or twice a week	35	21	3	1	22	32	31
Once or twice a month	15	12	1	1	12	11	11
Once every couple of months	5	3	1	0	8	4	4
Once or twice a year	4	6	1	0	10	3	4
Not at all/never drink	13	33	91	96	32	5	7
Sub-total: drinks at least once every two months	82	61	8	3	57	92	89
Sub-total: drinks on three or more days a week	28	25	2	1	16	45	43
Standardised risk ratios
Drinks at least once every two months	0.92	0.68	0.09	0.05	0.63	1.04	1
Standard error	0.02	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.03	0.01
Drinks on three or more days a week	0.69	0.60	0.06	0.03	0.39	1.07	1
Standard error	0.05	0.04	0.02	0.02	0.05	0.06
Women
Observed %
Almost every day	4	1	1	-	2	10	11
Five or six days a week	2	1	-	-	1	5	3
Three or four days a week	6	3	0	-	5	14	13
Once or twice a week	27	9	0	1	12	32	28
Once or twice a month	21	8	0	-	14	15	15
Once every couple of months	12	5	0	-	8	7	9
Once or twice a year	9	8	0	0	14	6	8
Not at all/never drink	19	65	97	99	44	11	13
Sub-total: drinks at least once every two months	72	27	2	1	43	83	79
Sub-total: drinks on three or more days a week	12	5	1	-	8	29	27
Standardised risk ratios
Drinks at least once every two months	0.88	0.32	0.03	0.01	0.53	1.04	1
Standard error	0.02	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.03	0.02
Drinks on three or more days a week	0.46	0.17	0.04	0.00	0.30	1.05	1
Standard error	0.05	0.03	0.02	-	0.06	0.07
Bases (weighted):
Men	362	589	348	132	95	1540	43125
Women	497	611	364	134	112	1985	51651
Bases (unweighted):
Men	539	618	603	514	297	534	3542
Women	738	650	632	542	359	707	4225

We welcome your comments on this site. Prepared 10 January 2001