The poorest people in Scotland are five times more likely to die of alcohol-related causes than their more affluent counterparts, according to a new report from Public Health Scotland.

The Monitoring and Evaluating Scotland’s Alcohol Strategy (MESAS) report 2022 found “stark inequalities” among the most deprived and wealthiest adults who regularly consume alcohol in terms of hospital stays and deaths.

Published on Tuesday, the report, which evaluated consumption, price and harms and inequalities, found that alcohol-related hospital stays were nearly eight times higher among those from the most deprived areas.

The data compared rates of alcohol-specific deaths in the poorest communities to the same issues in the country’s least deprived areas.

The current stats come despite efforts from the Scottish Government to curb excessive and harmful alcohol consumption by increasing the price of alcohol purchased in supermarkets and off-licences.

Minimum unit pricing came into force on May 1, 2018 and requires all licensed premises in Scotland to set a floor price of 50p per unit of alcohol.

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