Alcohol obstacle to development

The Sustainable Development Goals, also called the 2030 Agenda, is a set of 17 goals and 169 targets agreed on by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015. Unlike the previous Millennium Development Goals the SDGs have relevance for all countries in the world, not only Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC). The goals cover a wide range of social, environmental and economic development goals including eradication of poverty, ensuring healthy lives for all, ensuring education, protecting the environment and many more that the global community has committed to meet by 2030. 

The new publication sums up the present evidence about the harm related to alcohol use and how this relates to the SDGs. According to IOGT’s count alcohol affects the achievement of 14 of the 17 goals, making alcohol a major obstacle to development. Alcohol kills three million people every year, representing 5,3% of all deaths. It is jeopardizing human capital, undermining economic productivity, destroying the social fabric and burdening health systems. Goal by goal, target by target the publication points to how alcohol is related and most often is a hindrance to achieving those goals and targets. Health is of course a prominent case, but alcohol is also a stumbling block for ending poverty and hunger, ensuring education, achieving gender equality and ensuring water for all – to mention a few. 

Read more about the publication and download it for free from the IOGT International website here.