Estimated economic costs of alcohol abuse in the United States, 1992 and 1998[a]

[cost8.htm, dated 3/04]


Economic Cost	1992 ($ millions)	1998 (Projected)($ millions)
Health care expenditures
Alcohol use disorders: treatment, prevention, and support	5,573	7,466
Medical consequences of alcohol consumption	13,247	18,872
	––––––	––––––
Total	18,820	26,338


Productivity impacts
Lost productivity due to alcohol-related illness	69,209	87,622
lost future earnings due to premature deaths[b]	31,327	36,499
Lost productivity due to alcohol-related crimes	6,461	10,085
	––––––	––––––
Total	106,997	134,206


Other impacts on society
Motor vehicle crashes	13,619	15,744
Crime	6,312	6,328
Fire destruction	1,590	1,537
Social welfare administration	683	484
	––––––	––––––
Total	22,204	24,093


Total costs	148,021	184,636

SOURCES: TENTH SPECIAL REPORT TO CONGRESS ON ALCOHOL AND HEALTH FROM THE SECRETARY OF HUMAN SERVIECS (June 2000), DHHS Publication No. 00-1583. Adapted from Harwood, H., Updating Estimates of the Economic costs of Alcohol Abuse in the United States: Estimates, Update Methods, and Data, report prepared by the Lewin Group for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2000; and Harwood, H., Fountain., and Livermore, G., The Economic Costs of Alcohol and Drug Abuse in the United States 1992, report prepared for the National Institute on Drug Abuse and National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institute of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, NIH Publication No. 98-4327, Rockville, MD: National Institutes of Health, 1998.

[a] The authors estimated the economic costs of alcohol abuse for 1992 and projected those estimates forward to 1998, adjusting for inflation, population growth, and other fatcors. Detailed tables can be found in http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/economic-2000/.

[b] Present discounted value of future earnings calculated using a 6-percent discount rate.