Updating Estimates of the Economic Costs of Alcohol Abuse in the United States: Estimates, Update Methods and Data
December 2000
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
The economic costs of alcohol abuse are estimated to have been $184.6 billion in 1998. This estimate has been developed by making a series of adjustments to the most recent comprehensive estimates that attempt to account for changes expected to affect the estimates. This new estimate represents a 25 percent increase (3.8 percent per year on average) from the $148 billion comprehensive estimate developed previously for 1992. The current update has developed new estimates for 20 major cost components and has applied various combinations of 18 different specific adjustment factors to account for 1992 to 1998 changes in, e.g.: incidence/prevalence of selected alcohol-specific consequences; population; general prices; and worker compensation (wage rates).