Alcohol deaths fall by 3% but gap between Scotland's richest and poorest areas widens
There were 1,152 alcohol-specific deaths in 2025, down 3%. But people in the poorest areas are now almost five times more likely to die than those in the richest, and Glasgow is above the national average.
Alcohol and drugs minister Maree Todd. · Photograph: Scottish Parliament (OSPL)
The number of people dying because of alcohol in Scotland has fallen, but new figures show the gap between the richest and poorest communities has widened.
National Records of Scotland recorded 1,152 alcohol-specific deaths in 2025, down 3% from 1,185 the year before. It is the lowest number since 2020 and well below the peak of 2006.
A widening divide
In the most deprived areas, the death rate was 40.2 per 100,000 people, compared with 8.3 in the least deprived. A year earlier the figures were 40 and 8.3, meaning the gap has grown.
People in the poorest communities are now 4.8 times more likely to die from alcohol than those in the most affluent.
Over the five years from 2021 to 2025, rates were higher than the Scottish average in Glasgow City, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, West Dunbartonshire, Dundee City and Renfrewshire.
Men down, women up
The overall fall was driven by 43 fewer deaths among men, while deaths among women rose by ten.
NRS head of vital events statistics Phillipa Haxton said the death rate is still about 1.7 times as high as in 1994, when records began. The average age at death has risen from 54 to 60 since 1979, but remains far lower than the average of 77 for all deaths.
Scotland and Northern Ireland continue to have the highest rates of alcohol-specific deaths in the UK.
What is being done?
Alcohol and drugs minister Maree Todd offered her condolences to bereaved families and said the government must do more. She announced a pilot of alcohol care teams in hospitals, starting in Fife with £164,000 of funding this year and £328,000 next year, to support patients after they leave hospital. If successful, it will be rolled out elsewhere.
She said more than £160 million is being spent on alcohol and drug programmes this year, a new alcohol harm prevention plan will be published shortly, and that minimum unit pricing has saved hundreds of lives.
Anyone worried about their drinking can contact Drinkline Scotland free on 0800 7 314 314.