Teens as young as 15 are drinking 177 pints of beer a year, report reveals

Youngsters aged 15 and 16 are each drinking the equivalent of 44 bottles of wine or 177 pints of beer a year, research suggests.

Up to a third are regular binge drinkers, downing five drinks or more at a time according to the survey.

Almost 10,000 15 and 16-year-olds in the North-West of England were questioned for the report.

Professor Mark Bellis, its co-author, accepted the region probably suffers from a bigger alcohol problem than many other parts of the UK.

But he said all regions now contain areas where youngsters are drinking too much.

An alarming 84 per cent of those surveyed were consuming alcohol, often in public places such as bars, clubs, streets and parks.

Of these, 30 per cent were downing five drinks or more during sessions that occur at least once a week - the definition of binge drinking.

Professor Bellis, director of the Centre for Public Health, said: "These figures highlight the sheer quantity of alcohol being consumed by underage drinkers across the North-West.

"Sadly, there is still practically no information publicly available on what is a safe amount of alcohol for children to consume or on how parents can best moderate their children's drinking.

"Without a clear message that underage drunkenness will not be tolerated, we will continue to see the high levels of alcohol bingeing and related violence identified in this study.

"All too often such bingeing and violence not only damages children's lives but also results in whole communities feeling threatened by gangs of drunk teenagers."

The study was carried out by Liverpool John Moores University, Trading Standards North-West and the Home Office (North-West).

Across the region, just under half of 15 and 16-year-olds surveyed drank at least once a week.

Of these, 40 per cent of females and 42 per cent of males had been involved in violence following drinking.

The report "conservatively estimates that 15-16-year-olds in the North-West drink around 84million units of alcohol a year in total.

It says: "This is equivalent to 44 bottles of wine (or 177 pints of beer) per year for every 15 and 16-year-old in the region, or 67 bottles of wine (269 pints of beer) per year for each 15 and 16-year-old who drinks at least once a month."

More than a third of those surveyed admitted buying their own alcohol.