Alcohol-induced deaths in Australia at their highest in 10 years

ABS data shows 1,559 people died because of alcohol, a rate of 5.4 deaths for every 100,000 people and up from 5.1 in the previous two years. Photograph: EyeEm/Alamy

Alcohol-induced deaths are at their highest rate in 10 years, driven by conditions that can be caused by long-term drinking such as late-stage liver disease, neurodegenerative diseases and heart failure.

The latest deaths data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday shows that in 2021, there were 1,559 people who died of an alcohol-induced death, comprising 1,156 men and 403 women.