VThe Vector

Scotland records fewer alcohol deaths but inequality persists

New figures show a fall in alcohol-specific deaths in 2025, while the most deprived communities continued to face the highest rates.

Scotland recorded 1,152 alcohol-specific deaths in 2025, 33 fewer than the previous year, according to new figures from National Records of Scotland. The statistics also show that alcohol harm remains strongly linked to deprivation and continues to affect some groups at much higher rates than others.

The number of alcohol-specific deaths fell by 3% in 2025. National Records of Scotland said the total was the lowest since 2020, although the rate remained about 1.7 times higher than it was in 1994, when the current statistical series began.

The fall was driven by a reduction of 43 deaths among males. Deaths among females increased by 10. Men continued to account for more alcohol-specific deaths, although the figures moved in different directions for males and females.

People aged 45 to 64 and 65 to 74 had the highest rates. The average age at death has increased over the longer term, from 54 in 1979 to 60 in 2025, while the average age for deaths from all causes was 77.

Geography and deprivation remain important. Across the five-year period from 2021 to 2025, rates were above the Scottish average in Glasgow City, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, West Dunbartonshire, Dundee and Renfrewshire.

The rate in the most deprived communities was 4.8 times higher than in the least deprived communities. That gap means that a national fall in deaths does not indicate that alcohol-related harm has reduced evenly across Scotland.

The figures record deaths wholly attributed to alcohol and are not a measure of every death in which drinking may have played a part. They therefore provide an important but limited view of the wider health burden, which also includes hospital admissions, illness and effects on families.

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