Portugal’s image of northern Europeans getting disgracefully drunk on holiday needs some readjustment as the European Social Survey shows alarming trends for in the drinking habits of Portuguese men.
While slowly destroying their livers, the Portuguese male does take care to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables but fails to take much exercise.
The study examined the attitudes of Europeans in relation to their physical and mental health and was carried out over the past two years in 21 countries.
In the fun chapter dealing with excessive alcohol consumption, the Portuguese lead the field with 17.5% admitted drinking too much, at least once a week. For the more demure Portuguese woman, this percentage drops significantly to just over 5% who admitted being the worse for wear.
The Old Alliance holds firm though, with the British in second place (11.2%) and the Austrians in third (9.2%).
The European Social Survey also examined other risky behaviors, among them, the lack of physical activity. In this case, the Portuguese are the least active, with only 11.5% saying that they exercise 3 to 4 days per week. Only the Hungarians are more slothful at 10.5%.
The Portuguese lead the race in smoking too with their tobacco habit immune to government warnings. The percentage of men who smoke more than 20 cigarettes per day is 41.4% with the lowest result for women smokers who eschew the evil weed and smoke the least in Europe at 14.7%.
Portugal’s Intervention Service for Additives Behaviour and Dependencies (SICAD) said the results are at odds with its own findings.
Manuel Cardoso, the deputy director of SIDAC, says the findings are very different from a study his service has been running for four years which shows the Portuguese male less alcohol-fuelled, although he quoted no figures as his findings are only preliminary.
Cardoso says that different results may have to do with the methodology in measuring alcohol consumption and drinking patterns.
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