EFE/ 43% of Mexican and 30% of Costa Rican children begin consuming alcohol before the age of 13, according to the first results of the study about the patterns of consumption of alcoholic beverages in Latin American minors.

Costa Rican expert Jorge Mora Alfaro, associate investigator of the Social Sciences Faculty of Latin America (FLACSO), explained to EFE in Miami that those percentages are obtained from the result of polls done to secondary students in public, private and subsidized schools, in reference to the first time kids try alcohol.

Even more worrisome is the data regarding minors that consume alcohol on a regular basis in these two countries; this is the first information analyzed as part of an effort to include the children and teenager population to the Study of Patterns of Behavior of Alcohol Consumption in Latin America (EPCA).

A 23% of Mexican children are regular alcohol consumers, while in Costa Rica this number is of a 34%, says Mora, who confirms the average age to start becoming a regular consumer is of 15.

The academic secretary offices of FLACSO, located in Costa Rica, carry out the sociological investigation about alcohol consumption since 2009, following the recommendations of the World Health Organization.

In 2014, the first phase of EPCA was concluded, this involved 14 countries (El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Panama and Venezuela), and it’s already making progress in the second phase.

So far the new study has been done in four countries: Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru and Nicaragua and study in the fifth country, Brazil,is about to begin. This second phase is expected to conclude in 2019.

The Costa Rican specialist clarifies when asked about whether the consumption of alcohol is going up or down in the region, that it is not adequate to compare the results of the first phase and those already in hand of the second phase since these are partial and are not taking the entire sample into consideration.

“It seems as though the number of people consuming alcohol is going down, but consumers are ingesting more quantities” he said.
According to the results of the first EPCA, the percentage of adult population that has consumed alcholol at least once in the last year is in average 60%, lower than Europe (85%), Canada (78%) and the U.S. (65%).

25% of Latin America alcohol consumers are in the category of “harmful consumption”, which according to the World Health Organization means that they consume at least in one occasion five or more alcoholic beverages, and between 3.5 and 4% is alcohol dependent.
The biggest consumption is in the age group of 18-30 years of age, and the profile refers to a male consumer, although in younger age groups male and female consumers are matched.

The most consumed beverage is beer, even in countries such as Argentina and Chile where drinking wine during meals is a tradition.
The family has a determinant role in this matter. If a kid doesn’t get attention, there is no interest on his school progress or any situations that might be affecting him, the minor is more prone to begin drinking early in life.