Where The Drinkers Are

Terrence McCoy charts new WHO data on drinking habits around the world:

Patrick Winn examines the findings on female drinkers:

Obviously, most women in Muslim-majority countries don’t touch alcohol. But those who do apparently don’t hold back. In Syria, Turkey, Egypt and Malaysia — all Muslim-majority nations — more than 9 in 10 women tell the WHO that they’ve never, ever consumed the stuff. This apparently leaves lots of booze for the 1 in 10 who do. The female drinkers of Turkey and Egypt, for example, drink more than twice as much as their American sisters.  …

Apart from Vietnam, one of the only other countries where female drinkers binge worse than men is the United Arab Emirates or UAE — an Islamic kingdom where Muslims caught drinking can be locked up. And yet — among drinkers — 1 in 3 female drinkers in the UAE report bingeing at least once per week. So do 1 in 4 male drinkers. Much of this drinking takes place in the booming business hub’s hotels and compounds, where foreigners are allowed to booze out of public view.

Recent Dish on the dropping rates of drinking in Russia here.