British children are among drunkest in western world

British children, Welsh children in particular, are among the most likely to drink and to get drunk in the Western world. The figures are contained in a report from the World Health Organisation on health behaviour in 11-15 year-old school children in Europe and North America. In relation to alcohol, three measures were taken: frequency of drinking, incidence of drunkenness and (for 15 year-olds only) whether they had been drunk before the age of 13.

The report also covers behaviour in relation to smoking, illegal drugs, diet, exercise and other risk factors as well as family relationships and economic circumstances.

The tables show the findings on alcohol for England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, together with the figures for whichever countries had the lowest and highest percentages (based on boys and girls combined) and the average across all countries.