AKIPRESS.COM - Almost 8 in 10 men age 15-19 (78%) have never drunk alcohol, according to the results of the 2012 Kyrgyz Republic Demographic and Health Survey (KgDHS) released on January 30.

In the 2012 KgDHS, male respondents were asked a series of questions related to alcohol consumption: whether they ever drank alcohol, the age they had their first alcoholic drink, and how many alcoholic beverages they had consumed during the past month on days when they had consumed alcohol.

However, there is an increasing trend among men to start drinking at younger ages: among men age 20-24, 36% started alcohol consumption by age 18 and 62% had begun by age 20.

By comparison, among men age 45-49, 25% started drinking by age 18 and 56% by age 20, indicating that the number of men who started using alcohol by age 18 has increased somewhat in recent years.

Use of alcohol by age 20 does not fall below 56% among men in any age group. By age 25, more than three-quarters of men have used alcohol (78-86%).

Early use of alcohol is highest among men in their 30s.

The Table below shows the percentage of men who have started drinking by specific ages, according to current age (click on table to enlarge it):

A bottle or a can of beer (330-500 ml), a glass of wine (50-200 ml), and a shot of liqueur, vodka, or whiskey (50 ml) are considered standard beverages or standard drinks.

The survey found that 37% of men consumed at least one alcoholic beverage in the month prior to the interview. Recent alcohol consumption increases rapidly from 7% among men age 15-19 to 31% at age 20-24 and peaks at 52% among men age 45-49.

A higher percentage of men in urban areas reported consuming alcohol at least once in the past month than those in rural areas (42% and 35%, respectively). The highest alcohol consumption is in Chui region (62%) and the lowest is in Batken region (9%). Level of alcohol consumption tends to increase with increasing education and wealth, although the relationship is not linear.

Alcohol consumption (measured as the proportion of men consuming at least one alcoholic drink in the past month) among men in the Kyrgyz Republic (37%) is about the same as that for men in Azerbaijan (39%) but is considerably lower than that for men in Ukraine (77%) and Moldova (80%).

The 2012 Kyrgyz Demographic and Health Survey collected data from more than 8,000 households. Interviews were conducted with 8,208 women and 2,413 men age 15-49.

The survey was conducted by the National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. ICF International provided technical assistance through the USAID-funded MEASURE DHS program. Funding for the survey was provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) with additional support from the United Nations Population Fund in the Kyrgyz Republic.