The number of people binge drinking is on the rise in the U.S., with rates increasing more than 17 percent since 2005, according to NBC News.
Although the number of binge drinkers is on the rise nationwide, the hardest-drinking U.S. county was reportedly found to be Menominee County, Wisconsin.
“In 2012, 8.2 percent of all Americans were considered heavy drinkers and 18.3 percent were binge drinkers,” the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation said in a statement.
“Madison County, Idaho, had the lowest levels of binge drinking in 2012 (5.9 percent), while Menominee, Wisconsin, had the highest rates of binge drinking (36 percent among residents). For heavy drinking, Hancock County, Tennessee, had the fewest heavy drinkers (2.4 percent of its population) and Esmeralda County, Nevada, recorded the largest proportion of heavy drinkers (22.4 percent).”
The findings were discovered through a study of adults ages 21 and up in different counties across the U.S., according to USA Today.
“The percentage of people who drink is not changing much, but among drinkers we are seeing more heavy drinking and more binge drinking,” stated Ali Mokdad, the lead author of the study who is a professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.
“We’re going in the wrong direction.”
Researchers reportedly found that there was an increase of heavy and binge drinking among women, although women still drank much less than men do. There has also reportedly been a significant increase in college drinking.
“It’s not that the percentage of young people is increasing alcohol use,” stated Dr. George Koob, director of the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
“It’s that binging is more intense. It is rapidly becoming obvious to people that you can’t just turn kids loose at college and expect them to handle this themselves.”
