A survey of 6,000 households across the country has found that in the 15 to 49 age group, 87% of males had consumed alcohol at some point in their lives, compared with 60% of females.
This is according to the recently released findings of the Guyana Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2014, which was conducted by the Bureau of Statistics, the Public Health Ministry and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The survey found that 13% of males surveyed in the age group had never had an alcoholic drink, while 63% of males had at least one drink of alcohol on one or more days in the month preceding the period in which they were surveyed.
In comparison, it said 40% of the females in the same age group never had an alcoholic drink, while in the one month period prior to being surveyed 26% of females had at least one drink of alcohol on one or more days.
It also indicated that use of alcohol before the age of 15 was much higher among males than females. It found that 20% of the males reported using alcohol before age 15, which is four times the 5% of females who reported using alcohol before 15.
The study was part of a global Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey programme and technical support was provided by the UNICEF, which also provided financing along with the Inter-American Bank (IDB) and the Guyana Government. It was developed to support the collection of data on a range of indicators on the situation of children and women.
It should, however, be noted that because the budget for the survey only catered for a sample of 6,000 households, instead of the recommended 8,623, the expected margin of error for the results is just over 14%.
According to the survey, the use of alcohol by females and males varies greatly by region, ranging from 10% (Region 1) to 31% (Regions 3 and 4) among females and from 50% (Region 1) to 76% (Region 9) among males. Urban women, it was stated, are more likely to consume alcohol (30%) than rural women (25%), and coastal women (27%) than interior women (23%).
It found too that up to 43% of males have had alcohol before age 15 in Region 5, a figure that is considerably higher than all the other regions (between 12% and 24%).
The study found the proportion of females in the youngest age group (15 to 19 years) who had at least one drink of alcohol before age 15 is much higher than among the older age groups, at 13%, as opposed to 5% or less among, each of the other age groups.
It was also found that females aged 25 to 29 years are more likely than those in the other age groups to have had at least one drink in the last one month (35%) and females aged 15 to 19 years the least likely (16%).
As in the case of young women, the proportion of males in the youngest age group (15 to 19 years) who had at least one drink of alcohol before age 15 was higher, at 30%, than among the older age groups.
And like in the case of females, it was found that alcohol consumption in the month prior to the survey was significantly higher among males aged 20 to 49 years (between 64% and 77%) as compared with those in the 15 to 19 years age group (35%).
The survey also found that women living in households with an Afro-Guyanese or mixed race household heads were more likely to consume alcohol than others, measuring at 32% and 31%, respectively.
In contrast, it said alcohol use is similar across levels of education for both women and men. In addition, though there is no clear pattern with regard to household wealth, use of alcohol was most prevalent in the richest households for both women and men.
On the other hand, alcohol use is similar among men regardless of the areas or location of residence and ethnicity of the household head, the study found.
