[cost8.htm, dated 3/04] 

Estimated economic costs of alcohol abuse in the United States, 1992 and 1998[a]
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                                               1992            1998(Projected)
Economic Cost                          ($ millions)               ($ millions)
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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 
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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://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/economic-2000/.

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