Nearly one million Czechs drink at risky levels, data shows
New data on alcohol addiction treatment reveal stark regional differences. Most Czechs undergoing treatment for alcohol addiction come from eastern, northern, and central Moravia. The districts of Vsetín, Zlín, Jeseník, Kroměříž, and Přerov are particularly critical, with more than 300 people undergoing treatment per 100,000 inhabitants.
Alcohol addiction treatment in Czechia is unevenly distributed, with the eastern part of the country bearing the heaviest burden. Czech Radio data journalist Jan Boček uncovered some of the patterns that dug deeper under the surface.
“The biggest problem with alcohol really is in Moravia. But of course, it’s not only Moravia; it’s important to remember that average alcohol consumption in the Czech Republic has long hovered around ten liters of pure alcohol per person per year. So alcohol-related problems exist everywhere; they’re just somewhat worse in eastern and northern Moravia.”
To verify the findings, the data were consulted with Viktor Mravčík, former head of the National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Addiction at the Office of the Government, who confirmed the overall picture.
According to Mravčík, Moravia stands out as the region with the most serious alcohol-related problems. Northern Moravia shows high levels of alcohol treatment, while northern Bohemia does not, even though the two regions often resemble each other in a range of socioeconomic indicators. Boček continues:
“Mravčík offers several possible explanations. One is lower availability of treatment in some regions, and another is different drinking patterns, for example, in socially excluded areas. We add a third possibility: in the Ústí Region, there has long been the highest number of people treated for drug addiction, and alcohol addiction may be hidden under the diagnosis of so-called combined addiction, even though on paper it shouldn’t be.”
But one region resists the usual west–east logic altogether: South Moravia. The region leads the country in wine consumption and also ranks at the top for beer consumption. Home-distilled spirits are produced and consumed slightly less there than in the Zlín and Olomouc regions, though not by a wide margin.
Despite this, South Moravia does not record particularly high numbers of people being treated for alcohol addiction, nor does it stand out in alcohol-related mortality statistics. The reasons for this remain unclear, as no data are available to explain the phenomenon, Boček admitted.
One theoretical explanation could lie in the concentration of risky drinking. Whatever the regional differences, experts stress that addiction is only part of alcohol’s impact. Alcohol is toxic, carcinogenic, and can disrupt fetal development during pregnancy. Treatment and mortality data may therefore fail to capture the full scope of the problem.
