About 5.3 million U.S. women drink in a way that threatens their health and safety, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Here’s a look at female drinking by the numbers:
60%
Of U.S. women have at least one drink a year
13%
Of U.S. women who drink have more than seven drinks per week
39.2%
Of female drinkers who reported in 2006 that they had a recent drink said they drink alcohol regularly, compared with
38.9 percent in 1997
24.1%
Of U.S. female high school students reported having five or more drinks of alcohol in a row in a recent month
40%
Women who begin drinking before age 15 have a 40 percent higher risk of abusing alcohol or developing alcoholism than those who wait until age 21 to begin drinking
50-100%
Female alcoholics have death rates 50 to 100 percent higher than those of male alcoholics
4,575
The number of females who died from alcohol-induced causes in 1999
5,396
The number of females who died from alcohol-induced causes in 2005
Sources: The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
