Alcohol use soars 70% globally, World Health Organization says

Alcohol use is surging around the world, and health officials say that could mean trouble in the years ahead.

From 1990 to 2017, the World Health Organization says drinking increased by 70 percent.

While it went down in high-income western European nations, it jumped in middle-income nations like China, India, and Vietnam.

The total volume of alcohol people consumed globally each year went from 5.5 billion gallons in 1990 to 9.4 billion gallons in 2017.

As of 2017, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the increase equates to about 1.7 gallons of pure alcohol per year per adult.

This means that an adult averages about one drink a day, whether it's a 12 ounce beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1 ounce of distilled spirits, the study said. That could translate to jumps in high blood pressure and liver disease.

By 2030, Europe will no longer have the highest alcohol consumption.