Decline in youth drinking in high-income settings: Implications for public health in low-income countries (2023)

Declining drinking among youth in many high-income countries has attracted scholarly attention and debates. Still, researchers are yet to globalize such research or examine its public health implications for low-resource settings. This commentary has two interrelated purposes. First, using evidence from Nigeria, it highlights how declining youth drinking in high-income countries may impact public health in low-income countries. Second, it highlights the necessity for research to examine youth drinking behaviours simultaneously worldwide. The declining drinking trends among young people in high-income countries have occurred simultaneously with global alcohol corporations being more aggressive in low-income countries like Nigeria. Relatedly, alcohol corporations may employ evidence regarding declines in drinking to argue against implementing stringent policies or other effective interventions in Nigeria (and other low-income settings), claiming their apparent success in the falling drinking trends in high-income settings. The article argues that research on the drinking decline among young people should be globalized because without commensurate attempts to examine their drinking behaviours/trends worldwide simultaneously, public and/or global health may be harmed for the reasons explored in this article.
Highlights:
How the decline in youth drinking affects low-income countries have been neglected.
Declining youth drinking in high-income countries engenders aggressive marketing in low-income countries.
Researchers should simultaneously globalize studies on youth drinking behaviours.
Findings of such studies will facilitate interventions in high/low-income nations.