ITALY IS THE LEADING COUNTRY IN RESPONSIBLE DRINKING: 76% OF ITALIANS CHOOSE QUALITY OVER QUANTITY, AND ONLY 6% DRINK EXCESSIVELY. TRENDS AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE ARE CHANGING, REVEALED A FEDERVINI STUDY

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Alcohol & responsible drinking: “Italians do it better”, says the Ispo study for Federvini: only 6% of the population gives in to “binge drinking”. The Ceo of Federvini, Ottavio Cagliano says, “Wine is fundamental for the culture of moderation”
A minority of the Italian population drinks alcoholic beverages in excess: only 6% compared to 17% in the U.K. and 20% in Germany. And this trend in Italy is also limited to young people who, once they reach a certain age threshold, return to responsible drinking. This does not happen, however, in other countries. In Italy the peak of excessive drinking is between 16 and 18 years (31%), and it decreases and eventually disappears as age increases. The situation abroad, however, is quite different. In Germany, three out of ten people aged 25 to 44 still tend to exaggerate and in the U.K. almost 2 out of 10 people over 44 years old are heavy drinkers. These are the results of the study “The Mediterranean style of drinking” conducted by ISPO (public opinion studies institute) for FEDERVINI, the Italian federation of wine industries, presented today in Milan. The survey studied behavior patterns and the most popular drinking styles of young people in five countries as well as comparing the drinking habits of young Italians to four European countries: the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Malta. The primary goal of this research was to verify if the styles of Italian consumers were standardizing to the Anglo-Saxon model, or rather if, as the study confirmed as age increases there is a tendency to rediscover the pleasure of drinking quality, which is typically Italian.



Focus – Proper nutrition helps reduce alcohol consumption

The Federvini survey also highlighted how moderation, quality and the combination with good food are a value and a typically Mediterranean way of approaching the consumption of alcoholic beverages. In Italy, and similarly in France, with 35% and 32% respectively, the tendency to moderate consumption of alcohol during the week was found to be greater than in Germany (26%) and the U.K. (28%). For 76% of Italians “drinking a small quantity, but good quality” remains an important feature, which drops to 58% in Germany and 62% in the U.K. Finally, in Italy the combo “good wine and good food” is strong and 82% prefer drinking when they are eating good food. Only 18% of the sample is not interested in this combination, which increases to 47% in the U.K. and 34% in Germany. “Federvini has decided to continue this research, which they started two years ago, because they believe it is necessary and responsible to have a comprehensive approach to young people’s consumption of alcohol,” said Lamberto Vallarino Gancia, President of Federvini. “An interesting picture emerges from the Ispo survey, which shows that the Mediterranean model, and specifically the Italian one, might be a positive example of responsible drinking. It is important to understand and discuss every aspect of this issue to help our young people build a healthy, reasonable and pleasurable rapport with alcoholic beverages. Both the family, where about 20% of young people have their first taste of alcoholic beverages and the school play an important role in affirming these correct models and styles of consumption. Behavior models, accurate information and the culture of the alcoholic product are part of our tradition and as such must be transmitted and shared with future generations”. “These data confirm the trend already observed in 2009: that Italian youth consume alcoholic beverages in a typical Mediterranean style, a model that has specific characteristics and which can be summarized with the trend to drink moderately during the week, pay attention to the quality of what you drink and combine alcohol with good food said Renato Mannheimer, “this model is opposite to what can be called the “Northern European” model, which is characterized by the concentration of alcohol in a single day of the week; for example in Germany, as many as 22% of respondents claimed to drink only once a week but they drink excessively, followed by 20% in Malta and 16% in the U.K. In France this percentage falls to 6% and in Italy down to 4%”.



Focus – “binge drinking” in Europe

The Ispo survey for Federvini also investigated excessive alcohol drinking in Europe. Regarding excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages, the so-called binge drinking recently brought to public awareness, showed that mainly young people in the UK (24%) and Germany (36%) drink excessively when they go clubbing. In Italy only 9% say they do it, while France (16%) and Malta (12%) are in an intermediate position. In Italy it is mainly young people who risk excess consumption of alcoholic beverages: some say they drink “as much as I want”. The peak age in dance clubs is 22-24 years old. In other countries, especially in Germany, young consumers start much earlier: consumption peaks at 14/15 years old and the tendency to drink excessively continues even up to 40 years old. In the U.K. the peak, which reaches 59% is 19-21 years old, then the figure starts to fall, but goes back up for the over 44 year- olds. Germany (29%) and the U.K. (21%) are the countries where most people say they love the buzz that drinking alcohol gives. In Italy this phenomenon is minor - only 6% of the sample (a figure that appears to be stable compared to 2006). France and Malta are in an intermediate position with 13% of respondents. In Italy there are two age group peaks of people who say they love the rush of alcohol: 16-18 year-olds (29%) and 22-24 year-olds (29%).
r 24 the percentage drops significantly to the average figure of 6%. Compared with other countries, Italy stands out then with Malta at 42% for the lowest number of heavy drinkers: 44% has never drunk excessively. In Germany only 20% had not exaggerated, followed by France (33%) and the U.K. (35%). The reasons that lead to binge drinking (I wanted to have more fun; let myself go; my friends were doing it, too; a bet; to forget) has more respondents in Germany (39%) and the U.K. (38%) and in the U.K. the number one reason is to have more fun. In Italy only 22% of respondents stated the same reasons for “binge drinking”. The majority said either they were celebrating a special event (16%) or did not realize they were exaggerating (15%).