The statistics were given in an draft action plan which the Croatian Health Ministry has prepared for the 2012-20 period regarding alcohol consumption per adult. The paper was presented during a two-day conference on this topic in Zapresic outside Zagreb on Monday and Tuesday.
The annual alcohol consumption in Europe is estimated at 12.5 litres of pure alcohol per adult, or three drinks daily, which is twice as much as the world's average.
According to a survey conducted by the Croatian national statistical office, the average annual alcohol consumption per household member in 2010 was 27 litres, with beer accounting for 15.6 litres, wine for 10.7 litres and other strong alcoholic drinks for 0.7 litres.
According to the World health Organisation, the number of deaths due to chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis went down in Croatia from 2000 to 2009.
Croatia has had a lower rate of deaths from chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis than the average rate in the EU since 2004. However, this death rate is higher than in Finland, France and Poland.
According to findings of a study on addiction-related needs in 2011, 92.5% of Croatian men and 80.3% of women consumed alcohol.
One in five of those polled said they got drunk by consuming six or more glasses of an alcoholic beverage on one occasion. Furthermore, 1.1% are heavy drinkers on a daily basis, 5.6% are heavy drinkers on a weekly basis and 8.6% say they get drunk once a month.
Driving under the influence of alcohol caused one quarter of a total 42,443 traffic accidents, with 105 fatalities in 2011.