Just acquired a copy of the 1997 edition of the Worldwatch Institute report
State of the World by Lester R. Brown and others (Norton, 1997).  It includes a
succinct section, "Alcohol's Hidden Toll"  (pp. 68-71, endnotes, pp. 188-89),
which provides an international perspective on what most often is studied in a
North American and European context.  Here are a few tidbits.  In the Dissin
distrct of Burkina Faso men spent 44% of the per capita income for that African
country on beer.  In 1994 for the first time the Chinese drank more beer than
the Germans.  "Total world production of beer nearly doubled between 1970 and
1989, with most of the increase occurring in developing countries."  "Global
consumption [of alcoholic beverages] is underestimated--often by up to one
third--because many people brew their own alcohol."
 
David Fahey (Miami University) [log in to unmask]