Key Points

• Daily alcohol consumption among adults aged 18–75 living in Guadeloupe (6.9% vs. 10.0%) was lower than that of their counterparts in mainland France. The same was true for monthly heavy drinking episodes (6 or more drinks on a single occasion) (10.5% vs. 16.2%).

• While weekly beer consumption (19.2% vs. 17.2%) among adults aged 18–75 living in Guadeloupe was similar to that of their counterparts living in mainland France, weekly wine consumption was lower (19.7% vs. 30.0%), while consumption of spirits (15.2% vs. 9.7%) and other types of alcohol (6.2% vs. 4.3%) was higher.

• Weekly alcohol consumption among young people aged 18–30 living in Guadeloupe (37.4%) was close to that of young people of the same age living in mainland France (32.5%).

• In Guadeloupe, 9 out of 10 17-year-olds (91%) reported having consumed alcohol at least once in their lives, compared to just over 8 out of 10 (85.7%) in mainland France.

• In Guadeloupe, the cumulative mortality rate from the main diseases directly linked to alcohol (cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract, alcoholic cirrhosis, alcohol-induced psychosis, and alcoholism) was more than 20 times lower than the average in mainland France among women and 14 times higher among men.