Short term impact of minimum pricing for alcohol in Scotland
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- Advocates of minimum pricing predicted that it would have an almost immediate impact in Scotland, with modelling forecasting 58 fewer deaths and 1,299 fewer hospital admissions in the first year.
- In the eight months after minimum pricing was introduced, alcohol-related mortality fell at the same rate in Scotland as it did in England and Wales (seven per cent).
- Alcohol-related hospital admissions rose slightly in Scotland in 2018/19 under minimum pricing.
- The median Scottish household (by income) spent an extra £100.88 on alcohol in the first year of minimum pricing while the median income group in England spent an extra £44.20, a difference of £56.68 per annum. Those on below-average incomes have been hit hardest, with those in the bottom income group increasing their expenditure on alcohol by eleven per cent.
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Head of Lifestyle Economics, IEA