Did you know that the legal drinking age in the US and Europe used to be the same, just a few decades ago? Take a deep-dive comparison of drinking cultures and legal drinking ages between the USA and Europe, and how Ronald Reagan teamed up with Michael Jackson to change it all! 🌍🍻
In this video, we’ll unravel the histories, societal norms, and regulations surrounding alcohol consumption on both continents.
🔍 What's Inside:
The historical roots of USA's drinking culture 🇺🇸
Understanding Europe's diverse drinking traditions 🇪🇺
How legal drinking ages impact youth and society
Research on Binge Drinking and Alcohol Consumption
And much more!
🔗 Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
01:42 - Europe: Wine, Beer, & Legal Drinking Ages
06:18 - How Ronald Reagan, Michael Jackson & Highways Changed American Drinking Laws
14:47 - Which Country Drinks the Most?
22:04 - My Opinion
Why Watch?
Whether you're planning a trip, studying cultural differences, or just curious about global drinking traditions, this video offers a comprehensive look at how the USA and Europe approach alcohol.
🔔 Remember to hit the subscribe button and notification bell for more in-depth cultural comparisons and explorations. If you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up, share it, and drop your thoughts in the comments below!
🔗 Research & Sources:
International Comparisons of Alcohol Consumption www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Drink Driving Limits Around the World Compared
www.driving.org/drink-driving...
2021 Global Drug Survey www.globaldrugsurvey.com/wp-c...
#DrinkingCulture #LegalDrinkingAge #USA #Europe #CulturalComparison #TravelTips #AlcoholTraditions #youthculture
Episode 123
The question isn't "Why do Europeans let minors drink?" it's "Why do Americans prohibit adults from drinking?"
lol 😂 yeah, it the country of the Free isn't it ? there should be tiktok-compilations about how 'murricans are so much freeer than europeans, russians asians and africans & south americans... and austAliens 👽
Yeah, they can go to war, drive, do porn but can't have a beer. That doesen't ad up
@@berndb3141 You left out buying guns.
Stopp saying European. There exist no such thing german laws are not laws fir qll of Europe. There is no European as American.
@@Rikard_Adon't say American. There is no such thing as American. Not everyone has us law
I’m Italian and I lived for a year in L.A. when I was 22yrs old. Me and my other Italian friends were completely blown away by the fact that every single night you would find some college students so drunk they literally lied on the floor outside the club or pub, especially a lot of girls. We had been drinking since we were 14 yrs old and by the time we were 22 we all knew our limits and we would get drunk, sure, but never so utterly wasted as to lose our balance completely.
Ah, Napoli, spent a few months of 1975 drinking my way around those pubs at the waterfront. I had Shore Patrol duty on New Years Eve, learned to stay away from the high windows and falling objects. 🙂
Frightening. Any body who gets blackout drunk in public becomes an easy target for crime, 'just' theft if you're lucky, violence or abuse if you're not. (Followed up by victim blaming, as if you getting drunk would excuse opportunistic violence.) I must still be a bit naive, because I'm surprised that a club would just let people pass out drunken right outside the door. I get it that they don't want to spend money to have their own little drunk tank, but here in Germany I would (and have in the past) call either the police or an emergency vehicle if I find somebody unresponsive.
Your way is what I seen in Germany as a young Soldier. The young Germans weren't the falling down drunk types at all. Us GI's had that market cornered. Germans don't mind some drinking, but they don't tolerate total intoxication and the bad behaviors that go along with it. They call a drunk a drunk, and there was a social stigma if you were that guy. Peace.
Well said! Totally agree.
@@wyomarine6341 Falling down from windows and Tevere bridges parapets seems to be the most common cause of death among young US tourists here in Rome. Never heard or read about autopsy examinations on that poor people, but I'd bet their blood alcohol level would have been found to be VERY high.
As a German that now lives in Australia I found that there was a vast difference between why my Aussie friends drink to my German once. Australians seem to drink to get drunk and German get drunk because they drink (obviously a complete generalisation). For my German friends it seem to be a by product of the social side of drinking whereas for Australians its seem to be the goal.
I drink often. And my goal is never to get drunk. But that wasn't the case when I was a kid or young adult. Now, I never want to get drunk. One time, while traveling I had a layover in Atlanta, and went to the Delta Sky Club, where I drank 5 gin Martinis. When they asked if I wanted another, I said, "No thanks. Give me a beer. I don't want to get drunk."
@@MrJeffHead IDK since maybe you're American where shit light beers are prominent but a good alchohol is amazing.
@@Bob-bs9okI’m German and me and basically all my friends wouldn’t drink any alcohol if it wouldn’t get us drunk, because it just tastes horrible or at least worse than juice alone or just a nice softdrink. I still don’t understand how someone can enjoy the taste of something this horrible when everything tastes better without it.
@@zekiz774you just haven't found your drink yet, I guess... or alcohol really isn't for you. But a really good beer or wine or something stronger like cognac or whisky... that's such a pleasure...
I do think most 16-18 year olds do drink alcohol to get drunk here in germany. I do get what you mean though. Drinking alcohol together is just part of the culture at that point. And the older you get, the more you aquire a taste for alcohol and you can genuinely enjoy a freshly poured beer more than some sugary soft drink.
Well what always got me, was the story of a guy who fought from the beaches of Normandy to the heart of Germany in WW2 and when he got back to NY after the war he couldn't legally get a beer, because he was only 20 years old. The way I see it: if your country says you are old enough to die for it, you are bloody well old enough to drink.
Because the bartenders in Murika (who stayed home in Kentucky to guard their barrels of bourbon from the Nazi enemies) were also the pillars of the law-abiding community and builders of CIVILIZATIONS, so help them Bachus!
That’s not true. The drinking age in NY was always 18 until the 80’s
This is dumb. Look up when the laws changed, four decades after WWII.
I was surprised that young people trying to buy alcohol can get into legal trouble and be prosecuted for this. In Germany the kids won't face any legal charges - but the person that gave the alcohol to them will face charges.
Yes, that's the same in Norway.
This is massive brainfuck that is the US legal system: it doesn’t allow 18 year to make a conscious decision to drink alcohol but it treats them like adults when it comes to persecution
@@kaiserfranzjoseph9311 Maybe, but from what I hear, the US does have a bad habit of trying to get minors into legal trouble even if the law doesn't really ask for it. It may, of course, differ on what the complaint is, regional differences, and skin color.
@@kaiserfranzjoseph9311 I heard of cases where they found drunk teenagers (under 16) in Germany, and after they revealed where they bought it the seller was facing charges. Of course most of the time they won't find out who exactly sold it to them, so there won't be any charges.
Yes, same in Sweden.
For me as german, the gap between 16 and 18 was important because we did most of our drinking excesses in that time. So when I got my driving license, I had already stopped drinking so much.
yeah in Slavic countries we often joke that by the time Americans are allowed to drink at 21 most of slavs give up excessive drinking :)
@@nicktankard1244 that isnt even a joke in my case, like i just stopped drinking in excess when somewhere around 18-19
Yeah I know what you mean here in Canada the legal drinking age is 18 but I stared officially drinking at 25. That being said I am 35 now and I won't lie it does not have the same appeal it did when I was in my mid 20s. Granted I also approached it as best I could in order to avoid being an alcoholic. Like even today I am super mega hyper focused on if I cross the line and become an alcoholic also side note I still can't drive yet lol. So drinking and driving was not a big issue for me. And I hope to God it does not become a concern.
that time period is also a great time to kill brain cells by drinking
@@milan045 Yup, I stopped smoking and drinking by the time I was 18. Now I drink 4 beers per year or something like that.
In Southern Europe, wine is always present. It is very common to drink wine with meals, since we were children we see our parents and grandparents drink wine and they gradually introduce you and teach you how to drink it and enjoy it. In Southern Europe drinking is a social act, very few people drink alone and only the very young drink to get drunk.
It’s one of the few types of alcohol to have some health benefits as it has antioxidants like resveratrol that can promote cardiovascular health.
@@October8426No it doesn’t. That study was refuted. There was a correlations between those who occasionally drank a little wine and those that didn’t drink at all with the occasional drinkers have slightly better cardiovascular health. But later studies showed that the actually reason was because loads of the non-drinkers didn’t drink because of pre-existing health problems.
Oh well. Good that you stated that, I don’t want to misinform people. I guess I should have researched better.
@@October8426No probs. It’s a common misconception.
Doesn't happen nowadays, but kids from northeast of Portugal took for breakfeast slices of bread in a bowel of wine. It was suppose to warm up the body during winter time Some of them get drunk to school 😁
I'm British, and I think my earliest memory of drinking alcohol was when I was 9 and had a few sips of champagne on New Years 2000, and then when I was in my teens I was occasionally allowed alcohol like cider with a pub meal, or some Bailey's during Christmas. Being allowed it in a controlled way when younger than I was able to buy it myself meant I never had the urge to binge drink at parties. Whenever I see the stereotypical American college alcohol consumption it's beer bongs and really strong punch.
I'd not consider this as a general thing for brits. A British friend of mine started drinking with 11, and she's the most hyped person for heavy drinking I know, even when grown up. And I really don't see how having fun at getting insanely drunk at parties has anything to do with being introduced to alcohol by your parents in a "responsible" way (starting with 9 is too early tho, no offense)
American here, but my parents took the same approach. letting me try a sip of all sorts of different alcoholic beverages took all the mystery out of it, so I never had the urge to go out and experiment with alcohol.
German here. I just didn't like the taste until I was like 15 (tried a few times in secret from 12-14, but always stopped after the first sips). Binge drank feom 16 to 17, since then it got boring
I was offered a beer by my mother when I was 15 and puked as a result of drinking it. To this day, I may have a beer every six months or so but feel no need for it. The same goes with cigarettes. I smoked when I was 17, got bronchitis, and cigarettes lost their appeal. You could say I was innoculated.
@@Ray25689 Starting at 9 isn't that early when it's only a small amount, considering historical consumption of low alcohol beer. It's not like they were giving me pints every day, but a half of cider that's only 4% with a meal isn't at all a big deal. Some people act like even a little bit will be damaging but in low amounts, especially not on an empty stomach, it's absolutely safe. The real issue is young teens sharing a big bottle of strong cider or vodka on a park bench rather than a small glass as a treat in the home or at a special event.
I remember when I went to the US for the first time, I was 19 years old and my peers were obsessed with alcohol because it was taboo. it was quite obvious that the law achieved the opposite of what it intended
The main issue here, I think, is the alcohol dependency. DUI is often associated with alcoholic drivers. Starting to drink at lower ages increases the risk of becoming an alcoholic, at least from what I see around. The people that I know as alcoholics started to (constantly) drink early and they could not kick the habit later.
That is similar to my experience when I lived in the US as a 16/17 yearold. However when I visited when I was older and my Friends were Collage age, I did Not experience the Hollywood movie Style Fratparty bingedrinking. There were people who clearly did not know their Limit but that was mit the Norm. As to 'drinking habits' I feel Like that is also Dependance on your upbringing and maybe your age. I myself (as an 80s/90s Kid) drink almost never and only when I am with my Friends. I used to Drink a bit more when I was at University, as I was more often Out with Friends. And I See the Same with my Friends, even those who drank quite a bit Back in the Uni-days drink Just one Beer or a glas of wine the hole evening nowadays. ... Well we all got Family and Jobs and so on, so WE cannot be irresponsible as much as we could when we were twenty. Different topic: When I Heard the 'just say no' statement, I thought "well Why don't they 'Just say no' to gun violence?" If IT 'works' for drugs, Alkohol and premarital Sex it should work for gun violence as Well, right?😇
@@nondimensional4977well...science so far is not decided on the matter. My personal experience is that the age doesn't matter, the social souroundings on the other hand do.
@@nondimensional4977 Another point to consider is that young people in the US start binge drinking as soon as they are allowed to buy and consume alcoholic beverages to "make up" for the time they weren't allowed but wanted to; possibly starting the experience with hard drinks. And because they are legally adults at this point, parents can't rein in the same way like - ideally - German parents can with their 16 year old kids who start with light drinks in a more controlled environment.
@@nondimensional4977 It could also be that people drinking heavily while younger, and then end up as alcoholics, had/have other reasons for drinking and becoming dependent on it. Dependency on alcohol and drugs is often correlated with mental health and other factors like home-life.
My first duty station as active duty US military was in Germany. I was just barely 20yrs of age. I had been drinking illegally in the US on an irregular social level already. So when I found that I could legally drink in my new location - drinking got boring. Or at least, the thrill of just having alcohol was gone. Now. Germany. Awesome food. Including some great beers and wonderful wines and delicious liquors. I didn't stop drinking - I still consumed alcohol at a very moderate social pace. But I was drinking to enjoy the experience... not for the thrill of the act. It was very, very rare that I got outright drunk. I also got to watch cultures clash on alcohol. One of the awesome things about my Germany experience was the fests. Town got sacked during a medieval war? Let's blame the pigs, slaughter a bunch for roasting, and turn it in to a fest! Sun came up? Sounds like a fest! Every fest tended to have carnival games and rides. Food. And the beer and wine tents. Alcohol flowed liberally in to the crowd. And I rarely saw someone absolutely blitzed. Merry. Loud. Drinking with a lust for life. All that, yes. But keeled over in drunken sickness... almost never (almost). It seemed like it was totally uncool. And the US GIs would coach the newbies to not embarrass us all to the locals. Back in the barracks, some fresh-off-the-plane kid just out from under Mom's apron strings might be praying to the head. And some might think that kind of thing had some degree of bravado to it. But it seemed like that was newbie thinking. The real coolness was slamming down some cool German brews and knowing when to stop so you got to keep 'em and remember the experience (most of the time). Or at least, not get so blitzed that one embarrassed the team out in public in front of the locals. Talking with teen locals and GI brats - the binge culture didn't seem to be encouraged. They got drunk. Those that drank liked to drink for sure. But as best as I could tell the American party animal just wasn't in the youth culture either. Even if they thought the red solo cups were cool. Does this all pan out with others' experiences? I dunno. I hit 21 while still in Germany (no legal binge party - who cares) and had long outgrown the pearl-clutching moral panic over alcohol by the time I left Germany for points unknown. Though when I did have my own daughter hit the age of aclohol... well... I had different lessons for her. And I never once felt the need to reach for the pearls. And never have felt kinship with those that do.
I’m German and to me it felt similar. Alcohol and drinking was something to enjoy, to celebrate life, not to get wasted. Getting wasted was pretty uncool in my region and time as well, even when we just started drinking (at 14-16).
"So when I found that....I could legally drink " In Hungary, they say that you wish for what is forbidden, you want to get it. This can be true for many things..
YESS finally someone acknowledging our cuisine
Decent comment, love it
German here - big thank you for your comment. I would actually connect the ideas in it more with Southern Europe or parts of France, but i'm happy that you found this to be part of our German culture. Especially when you mentioned your military background i thought, when a country allows young people to carry guns or to drive a tank in the military, they should also trust these young people to drink responsibly...
The Danish youth (age 15-25) are the biggest consumers of alcohol in the given age range, and alcohol is extremely common, but the thought of DUI is an insane risk, not only for other people's safety, but also the huge consequences if you get caught. I honestly don't know anybody within my friend group who have driven drunk. We are also a culture of people planning in advance, so most people have a plan on how they will get home safe before going out.
Hmm, wonder if it is the US car centric stuff that makes it such a big problem. Drunk bicycling only risk your own life after all.
@@meanmanturbo It is definitely an inflammatory factor, the distance between suburbs and bars may also play a factor. I'm Swedish but the idea of a designated driver have always just been weird to me. If we were going out drinking, nobody would bring a car. We'd just take the bus to the city and the bus back home sometime after midnight. If public transit isn't available (a result of car-centricism) and the distance from home to pub is large enough (due to zoning) I could see many taking the risk. I believe the US also have a higher blood alcohol level allowed compared to most / if not all European nations. Probably to allow an adult to enjoy a beer and still be able to drive home, which may cause some over-drinking contributing to the statistics. As a personal anecdote in the case of Fenno-Scandinavia I'd argue that we tend to preach individual responsibility more rather than babysitting by the Government in issues on a social level. A lot of our laws or in some cases lack of laws surrounding topics rely more on people not being dicks so laws or regulation don't have to be written or enforced surrounding that topic.
A bicycle can work as a walker for the trip home from a party….
Unfortunately drunk driving is still quite common in Lithuania. Consequences are there, but it's almost cultural to ignore all that and do it anyway. A lot of people plan around, but still it kinda has cultural status of being almost like no big deal. Some famous people aren't even judged by society harshly for that.
@@meanmanturboIndirectly, a drunk cyclist might cause an accident--perhaps even a fatality. I've never heard of that,though....
One important thing you miss about Europe/Germany is, that we have the idea that parents should teach children how to deal with all things in life and this also includes the use of alcohol. Why shoud kids or young adults get drunk with strangers first and not be tought by their parents how to drink resposibly..
In Denmark, we do not punish people for drinking. We just take the car and driving license when you drive home drunk afterwards.
Sounds very logical to me.
Is that not a form of punishment? 🤔
@@arturotaratungoro not for drinking, but for driving drunk.
@@arturotaratungoro not for drinking. only for driving when drunk.
@@arturotaratungoro It is society's reaction to a citizen not living up to the responsibility required to drive responsibly and legally in traffic. Very logical
My parents had a much more European attitude towards drinking. My brother and I were allowed to have a glass of wine or a beer with Sunday dinner or a Holiday meal as young as 14/15. I think they wanted to teach us about responsible drinking in a safe environment.
Amen
Dinner and meal are the keywords here. In all the Mediterranean countries this is a common rule. Never drink with an empty stomach. Drink while eating, slowly while talking with other people,. In Greece, I have seen many parents allowing their kids to sip wine even at the age of 9 or 10 at the table and slowly as they grow up letting have a beer or a glass of wine with them.
Same here. My German born grandmother would allow us to have a glass of wine with our Christmas meal and she would put the liqueur, cream de menthe on our ice cream
@@tyxeri48 In Germany or France this isn't only related to a supervised dinner and meal with your family! It has more to do with freedom and trust, so it is widely extended to peers and friends. While in Germany you got a focus on "Feierabend"/quitting time of your work, in France it is focussed on whole days like Wednesdays and Mondays. In Germany, Mondays are often times free, too, but not really celebrated like the Sunday. Wine and beer are both related to Christianity culturally, so it was common to drink after the social gathering and of a fine quality. So, the regular age limit regulated by families and individuals not the government was about 14 years. While Continental Europe remained more culturally conservative, the US had an ongoing fight against traditional and real conservativism since the 1930's. That's where this destroyed anomic (anti-christian) culture with no real trust and limit comes from. On average, it isn't because of the long witholding period. The US developed themselves towards drinking cheap booze and commercialization, also with British-American companies (later Russian oligarchs). Take a look how Mexicans consume let's say Tequila and what the imported stuff is about. In the US, it is also more related to British/Irish pubs, which had their roots in Taverns and Inns with also very cheap til unhealthy booze. The German Kneipen were historically similar, but not about unhealthy booze and more a man thing. They only later turned to be an organization for Socialists, extended to regulating or not regulating booze. On average, they remain trustworthy in regard of what to sell and the amount, while the costumer is also more aware. In the US, you don't have that awareness on average.
My parents were like that too. I remember sitting at the kitchen table at 14 with relatives over, I was asked if I wanted a beer which I accepted.
I was trying alcohol with my parents from about 11 or 12. My mum taught me how to drink responsibly. I’ve never been hungover, and never binge drunk. Teach your kids and you’ll avoid a lot of problems.
@@CatVision-jx6he I’m not German….. and it’s not like I was getting drunk, I was just learning what alcohol was and about how to treat alcohol. Thats why I said I was trying alcohol, not drinking. I come from a country where binge drinking is a serious problem and yet I’ve never participated. I thank my parents and their education for that.
In Romania, many of us are served alcohol by our families since very, very young ages. Many fellow Romanian will recall being in a family gathering and hearing some random uncle go "just a sip of wine, it's homemade, it's good". The first drink I ever had was actually a 40-50% strong homemade moonshine called "ţuică", similar to serbian rakia or hungarian palinka. Sounds extreme at first, but actually is a lifesaver for us. We spent most of our highschool days drinking in bars (yeah some would serve you alcohol between 14 and 18 despite the legal age being 18). By the time we reach the age to drive (also 18), we are very aware of our drinking limits and drinking itself doesn't seem so exciting and cool anymore. Also, you can get public transportation pretty much everywhere (though the buses can be crappy at times), so you don't have the necessity to use a car.
yes! me and my brother always had a small coffee cup of alcohol at family gatherings/holidays. wine, beer, sparkling wine, palinca. i remember it started from first grade.
Not all of us did that as teenagers, drinking in the bars, and certainly NOT in the Communist and post-Communism years, that is mostly a post-2005 trend. Like now, in the early 20's, there is a trend among teenagers to consume drugs.
Yo, that part about the uncle is SO relatable. I’m Hungarian and 19, and every single time my uncle keeps asking me “But WHY don’t you want any alcohol??” and like, shut up. I’m allowed to not like it man.
@@boglarkarebay 💯😂😂
Ha i never thought about that if you are drunk in America somewhere in the wild you are basicly screwed because the lack of public transportation.
That’s why one person, the driver, doesn’t drink and the rest can. I also don‘t have public transportation after 11 PM
@@katharinamarschall5662Yea. I live in Norway and grew up in a small village outside a city. We often went to the city in the weekends to party. No public transport home, so we had 1 friend not driving.
I worked at an American summer camp in the late 90s when in the UK drink driving was very socially disapproved of by teen-agers in my rural area, when drinking at 16 was normal. I was shocked by how normal drink driving was at the summer camp. I don't know if this is still the case.
Cycling Under the Influence is also illegal in the states, so bicycling drunk can get you arrested.
@@alenliawoerner6858 I think drink in charge of a bicycle is an offence in the uk but it isn't related to a blood alcohol level, more to ability to ride.
I'm from Denmark, and I feel that learning to drink responsibly from an early age allows you to be smarter about it. I have never driven drunk, or done (incredibly) stupid things while drunk, or blacked out from drinking (stupid acts / blackouts are common stories among Danes), even when binge drinking, and I think that's because my parents taught how to appreciate drinking rather than just binging to binge, and I think that is common with a lot of people - learning to drink from trustworthy adults makes you more responsible when drinking.
You have (insanely high) taxes to prevent you from binge-drinking. We don't.
@@bluerisk True, but we have equally high wages, so it balances out somewhat.
With a big smile: I imagine an American watching Danes at the Danish- German border. You might think, Danish might be drown in alcohol, followed by Swedish citizens coming to Kiel or Puttgarden. Masses of beer and wine, to consume carefully when at home having a good meal.❤
@@bluerisk We got higher wages, even as kids, to be able to buy our alcohol.
@@kasperkjrsgaard1447 You have child labour to finance your alcohol consumption?! It's worse than I thought...
My wife and I made the decision to leave our life of beaches and palm trees here in south Florida for rolling hills and vineyards of south western Germany. Your posts have helped set expectations about culture and reaffirmed our choice for ourselves and our children. I am looking forward to the new adventure that awaits us in November. Thank you
Wow, that's a big leap. Welcome and all the best wishes from Denmark.
@@yottaforce Welcome to our country from Germany!
if you need someone to show you around, im fairly familiar with that region. willkommen in deutschland! :)
Welcome I hope you and your family enjoy your time in Germany :)
WEINLAND BW/VINOLANDIA BadenWuttenbergiana/ VIVAN las WEINCOSTs
I live in Scotland, which is a country with a high amount of alcohol abuse. At least in my generation, so many people started heavily drinking when they were under 18. Because of this, whenever I have my teenage brother around for dinner, since the age of 14 or so, I make sure to responsibly introduce him to alcohol. Letting him have a low alcohol content drink for special occasions, and offering him a sip whenever I have a new kind of alcohol he hasn't encountered before. I've been open with him from day one that the purpose of this is to avoid making alcohol this exciting unknown thing, and hopefully trying to combat the binge drinking "seshes" that so many newly minted 18 year olds fall into.
in the Czech Republic we drink a lot. But we also have 0% tolerance, so nobody really gets into o car even after he drank 1 beer. Because you would immediately loose your license for 2 years and pay huge fine as well. And i think this is a good solution.. I feel safe on our roads.
We are also very good drunken drivers, the amount of people regularly or occasionally breaking the 0% is really high, but I do think that the laws are good at preventing "the majority". The drunks that drive even now can be split into 2 cattegories, those who would drive smashed at any situation, regardless of the laws and those who would be legal with just a "just one beer" policy.
In Germany we have 0,0 the first 2 years after that the limit is 0,3
Not having licence doesnt stop you from driving. Especially when you are drunk
I missed the strange fact that the USA has a much higher percentage of alcohol related death in traffic WHILE also having a higher limit on what is considered driving under the influence of alcohol. So probably the percentage of alcohol related incidents is even higher if you use the European standards.
Car related traffic deaths per capita are multiple times higher in the US than in Germany and similar European countries, so even if we both had the same ratio of drunk driving, you'd have way more deaths related to drunk driving in the US - just through the higher road fatality rate alone.
@@faultier1158i have driven a car in various US states as well as many European countries. The fact the US has a higher death toll per capita doesn’t surprise me at all!
@@faultier1158 Deaths due to drunken driving per head of population in the USA in 2021 were 12 times higher than in the UK and 14 times higher than in the USA. But then, per head of population, the rate of road fatalities in the USA in 2021 was over 5 times higher than in the USA than the UK and more than 4 times higher than in Germany (and still much higher, even if you factor in increased distances driven). US road are simply a lot more dangerous than pretty well every European country.
@@faultier1158 That is what I said!
Keep in mind they start driving at 16 and their driving tests are a formality.
I taught my sons (I have only a daughter-in-law) to drink beer responsibly when they were about 16. So far the results have been good. The older one drinks only a couple times per year, he's busy with a family. The younger son does drink a little more often, usually only with his friends. He spends his money to his computer gaming system and other nice little things rather than alcohol.
Really love all the work you put in and your essay style. My short time living and working overseas I definitely saw a difference in binge drinking, and specifically alcohol abuse, when compared to the US. The culture as a whole seemed more responsible, even though I did a considerable amount of drinking while there. I remember listening to a teenager say during dinner "no more for me, I'm feeling a bit buzzed already" they had already learned their limits from drinking with their families
I've lived in the US and Ireland. (From US now in Ireland) I think the US really struggles with the concept of moderation. I think this is true in a lot of aspects of US culture, but definitely true of alcohol consumption. In the states you're either drinking to get drunk or you don't drink at all. Despite Europe's reputation, I don't think Ireland is much better, at least with kids. Older adults here tend to be better at drinking in moderation, but people under 30 tend to binge drink as much as yunguns in the US. For me personally, I rarely drink because of cost.
Of course much of that excess came from the idea that we were a super rich economy-look at the hard drug trade..
The concept of moderation is an elastic concept, like a friend of mine can drink 3 bottles of wine during the afternoon and Id say that is moderation, because it doesnt effect him anymore as much, a lot of people drink casually, at a café, order a beer, also despite being ilegal for minors to buy alchool, I am very certain the police here barely enforces it(if you dont kill anyone they dont enforce much at all) and I have seen 13 years old buying licor, when I was 10 years old I would go to the store to buy Tobacco for my grandfather.
@@pedrorequio5515 "The concept of moderation is an elastic concept, like a friend of mine can drink 3 bottles of wine during the afternoon" See, the thing with moderation is not how much you are able to drink, but how much doesnt attack your health in general. If you drink 3 bottles of wine even just 2 times a week, your liver and kidneys will absolutely take damage over time no matter how drunk you feel. If you drink small amounts on a regular basis, your tolerance will go up, your organs wont be affected too much because they are designed to work with small, even regular amounts of any toxin in the system. But if you just binge drink even semiregular, your organs will absolutely take damage even if you yourself dont feel drunk, because of a higher tolerance. This is not 'elastic' this is simple biology. Alcohol is still a neuro toxin at the end of the day and it is a very effective one at that, because your overall neurologic capabilities will be affected from the very first sip, even thou you dont feel drunk due to tolerance.
@@RandlerayIt's also a solvent. The things "they" don"t tell us about these "illicits.... "
From my experience as a German: yes, I was drinking when I was 15 or 16, and at some parties too much. But I (and most of my friends) got over that by 18 - which means that none of us drove drunk (at least no cars, my bicycle had some close contacts with hedges in that time...)
Nicht nur dein Drahtesel 😂
They drive at 16 there
@@jorgefrade8900You can drive with 17 in Germany aswell. If you drive with a parent/caretaker. But the much higher standard for driving in Germany limits underage driving significantly. Being able to kill people on the road should not be held to the same amount as having a nice evening out with friends.
Its a good thing to start drinking earlier because you get to learn your limits in a safe environment
Love the amount of research you bring in this. Kudos.
I've experienced this personally. I was born in The Netherlands, and moved to Canada with my family when I was 13 years old, back in 1981. One of the cultural differences my family and I noticed right away was the difference in drinking culture. My older brother, who is 5 years older than me, had a summer job at a local brewery here in The Netherlands when he was 15 years old, back in the 70's. We noticed that binge drinking was much more common in the population as a whole, not just in youth. So while youth on both continents indeed indulged in binge drinking likely equally as often, my guess (and it is a guess) is that those numbers change significantly when you look at older groups. My biggest issue is with one of the final statements made in this video. I figure that there is actually one great way of mitigating binge drinking behaviour, and that is one that will mitigate many of society's problems, especially in North America, and that is education. The more educated a population you have, the fewer societal issues will impinge on the health and happiness of its members. If you didn't know already what a difference education can have on a population, just go to youtube and type "stupid Americans", and you can have a laugh for an entire afternoon 🤣 European countries in general will teach its younger members how to deal with responsibility at a younger age than the US (and Canada to a lesser extent). While here in Europe parents teach their kids how to be responsible in public spaces, helicopter parenting appears to be the norm in North America (except when it comes to the military, there US kids can volunteer to get killed with impunity, but heaven forbid they drink a beer in public). Education is the key. Teach kids to be responsible from an early age, let them make their mistakes early, when the consequences of making those mistakes are more often manageable, and you will produce more responsible adults.
Funny you should mention education, because where American kids apparently were literally regularly educated in school about the dangers of alcohol (you can of course debate about the quality or efficacy of that "abstinence only" education), I can't recall my Dutch highschool ever mentioning alcohol. When I went to highschool in the 90's (legal drinking age was 16 back then), almost everyone would drink on the weekends, and lots of it. We would drink at home, at parties, bars and clubs and nobody would monitor any of this, including parents. Looking back, I wouldn't have wanted to miss it, because it was such a fun time, but it was also extremely unhealthy.
@@MartijnPenningsI am German and we were indeed educated on alcohol, especially alcohol making dangerous situations like traffic aka riding bikes drunk, drunk driving, walking home drunk near roads, in bars or clubs aka being drugged by putting stuff in your drink, never leaving a drunk person on their own alone, and stuff like that. We were told about all the dangers of alcohol at around 15 years old without people saying „you shouldn’t drink“, they just made it clear that there are many dangers and drinking responsibly is important. We knew all of the dangers and could make an informed decision. And many of my friends in fact were able to make informed decisions, even at the age of 16, 17, 18… My friends didn’t drive drunk, we would never leave a drunk person alone by themselves and we would call each others parents to get picked up in case someone went overboard. So education is indeed very important, but not in a way that only deems abstinence as the only right option, but that promotes informed decisions and responsible behavior. And even teenagers have the ability to do this.
Experience is the greatest teacher.
One problem with these indoctrination sessions is that a lot of kids are naturally rebellious. I was. And so were a lot of people I knew. So when some authority figure comes along and tells us not to drink, we'd drink out of spite. For some, "education" (or indoctrination in this case) can have the opposite effect of that which was intended. Especially for critical thinkers.
@@RoguePhysicistThat's because they tell you not to drink, they don't teach you how to be responsable when you do drink. Big difference.
Hello from Spain! I would like to add the question of "Why do people consume alcohol in the US vs Europe?" Since at least here in Spain , we might consume a lot of beer or wine, but that's just because going out for a beer with your friends or enjoying whine in a family gathering is the most comon way of socializing .
We Americans drink to forget about the consumer and medical debt we have. 😅
@@cockatooinsunglasses7492 Peak murica.
Coming from a EU country with 0.2‰ limit, it was very easy for us especially at young age to decide if you want to drive or not :) 1 regular beer gets you above the allowed limit (or borderline if you wait long enough) so you don't dive, and plan to have alternative way home if you had ANY. There are no semi-drunk guys trying to decide if they are fit to drive after already drunk 3-4 beers. You make that decision upfront since the first one makes decision for you. It's practical in a way, from perspective of small town person with no local public transport or taxis/uber around: you organise your logistics back home while you order your first beer if you don't have one already e.g. while still being sober. If you had already a few lets be honest, ability to make good decisions goes down pretty quick, so simple math like helps here :)
I definitely agree think that the biggest issue in the us with drunk driving is that you HAVE to drive to get around. if you are at your house or a friend's house and want to or need to go somewhere else, you have to drive (in the past few years, delivery services and taxi apps like uber have been a very good alternative); while in most of Europe, you can walk or take public transit. being able to drink before being able to drive is definitely another huge thing. it doesn't really matter if you are getting hammered in your house when you can't drive and therefore can't drunk drive
21:10 in my opinion the question "how often are you drunk" is more important than "how often do you drink". Having a beer at home nearly every day is quite common in Germany. But you pose no danger when sitting on your couch while not even being a bit tipsy.
Doesn't that mean the question should be 'how often are you drunk in public?', since being drunk at home does not represent a danger to others? Also self reporting is very unreliable, for most things, and very much depends on outside attitude to what is being reported.
Alcohol is a neurotoxin, and getting tipsy nearly every day is definitely not healthy. And if you start feeling that you can't be without your beer and wine in the evening you have created an addiction, and this can cause you a lot of problems.
I don't know a single person personally that would drink alcohol on a daily basis.
@@MarcGrafZahl thank you. The "one beer a day" thing is part of the dangerous normalization of alcohol in Germany. Yes, it is not per se dangerous in many cases and as it is done at home usually doesn't impose any danger on the roads, but it helps to downplay the danger of alcohol consumption on a social level.
@@patrickhanft As a German (now 63), I don't drink, not from any moral grounds but simply because I dislike how most alcoholic drinks taste, and also the consequences make me feel sick, which I also don't like. Alcohol makes me feel worse, not better. But the only times I ever got significant blood alcohol content was in my 15 months in the air force around 1980, primarily due to social pressure from my comrades - who indulged far more than I ever did. (And I never even tried smoking, though there are stories that as a small kid, I tried eating the stuff - I can't recall any such thing myself. But other people smoking is enough to make my eyes hurt, and then my whole head, for hours. I was very glad when more and more public spaces became non-smoking by law. Horrible stuff.) But, I also don't drive. I never got a driving license, primarily because I have no 3D sight and am bad at estimating speeds and distances - very much not a good thing when driving - but also, I really never needed to, there were always alternate solutions, primarily public transport.
I can definitely support that the risk of drunk driving in Germany is seen as too high and people won’t even touch the wheel until they’re definitely sober (not to mention that technically it is illegal for a under 21 year old or a person that got the license less than 2 years ago to have any alcohol in the blood). Walking / biking home is seen as the safer alternative. I grew up in a small town in southern Germany that doesn’t have any public transport between 0:30 and 6:00 on weekends, which basically meant that you had three options: stay at McDonalds until 5 and then wait another hour at the train station, take a cab or walk/cycle 20km. Even though this was suboptimal no one ever had the idea to drive home due to the harsh consequences
My school worked with an organisation that offered cheep taxis/suttle service for students to get home after a party to reduce drinking driving. Drunk circling is better than driving, but still quite dangerous and can also be fined heavily, depending on alcohol level.
Walking home 3 hours at 2 in the morning is an experience I can recommend. It gives you a new sense of how far apart everything is.
@@rora8503 so basically they give the students the idea they can get drunk all they want without getting problems out of it. what a good idea.
Dedicated driver. We always had at least one.
@@eljanrimsa5843And as a side effect, you may be quite sober again
Another great video, Ashton! I’m now living in Ireland, but grew up in Chicago. Personally, I don’t see much difference between the Irish here and those I grew up with. Plus, I have gotten drunk with many a Brit as I travelled around the world. Add in the Canadians and Aussies, who are usually the last to go home during any party, and it’s not hard to come to the conclusion that serious drinking is an Anglo characteristic - not just the US. It's the Continent that is different - and it's really different than rest of world. Want to see really drunk people? Go to Japan. They make Americans look like teetotallers. I know that Ashton briefly mentioned it, but one has to consider the design of many American cities. They are built for automobiles - and usually long distances. For example, Houston where I spent my adult years. So, it becomes very difficult to go out and have a few cold ones with the boys - and not have to deal with driving. Sure, there’s Uber, but that starts to become a very expensive night out. That explains the 0.08.
MAN, I wish MADD had pushed for exceptional public transit as a solution.
Hi Ashton, I was waiting on a video about this. I grew up in Germany, visited the US when I was not yet 21, lived in the US from 2000 till recently and now in Spain. I have kids and grandkids in the US that went through that age or are in that age range of 15-18 right now and I have a clear winner for this. The EU, hands down! Here are my reasons. - My father was an alcoholic, so I actually didn't want to end up, like him, thus I didn't drink with my friends when partying. However, being together with 16-17 years old is very boring without alcohol. - When I was 18, the drivers license was the ticket to get out of my village finally, so risking it for alcohol is a NONO. I always was the designated driver when we went out and I was OK with it. - When you are 18-19 with your friends, your first love and sit in a park or along a river and have a glass of wine or a beer, makes the event so much more enjoyable then having a Coca Cola. - Now, when I was 19 in the US, I could not go into a bar or have a beer. I was left out and had to do other things. Not that I wanted to get drunk, but that I missed out on socializing with others. - Currently, seeing my grand kids growing up and not being able to go out and have fun, is really hard for me. All they do is sit at home, playing Playstation or are on their phones. There is nothing for them to say, "I meet my friends for a drink" or something. The non existing public transit, even in a big city like Las Vegas, ads another obstacle to this and getting an Uber would cost more than going out. - In August, I was at a large festival in Malaga, Spain. There was a separate area with DJ's for the teenagers. It started at 11PM and most all of them had plastic bags with them containing some sort of alcohol. Non of the thousands of teenagers were over 21. Mind you, the public transit for that festival was 24 hours and cost 2 Eur! What I am saying is NOT that you have to get drunk or become an alcoholic, but being able to have access to alcohol responsibly when you are 16-18 years old, allows you to mingle with other people and opens your horizon a lot. Seeing my grand kids growing up in a bubble, makes me very sad. I think that this bubble is creating the weirdos with a screwed mind that tend to do very, very bad things in their lives by hurting others.
This is an 11/10 response! I am a young 20-something american guy from the US, but grew up in NY and with a much more international upbringing than the average american, i.e. with wine served with dinner in my teens & having spent a fair amount of time in europe. I've thought and reflected a lot much about the cultural impacts & trickle-down effect of our drinking age are, what the 21-rule might be a symptom of in the broader american society, and can never find the right words. It's hard to form a sound case on my own since it can be so hard to quantify 'more responsible' drinking, but I really appreciate how you contextualized it with the casualty of your grankids' experiences. It is quite sad 😕 and i'm sorry. I don't know that I have much more to add here, but social education & learning to be responsible on one's own can go so far and be so much more enriching and build so much more independence. Life isn't as simple or deterministic as the question of "what laws lead to more alcoholics." I think the US misses this message of letting kids make mistakes on their own, like learning to drink young, starting with making it illegal to leave your kids unsupervised, and ending with the 21-year old drinking age. There's a whole spectrum of opportunities and personal growth in between. Thanks again for sharing xx
And those stupid [and proud] Americans which ,I hope are few, all attended the state 'education' system where they had to listen to 'educators',most of whom had never left school. * The Amish leave school at 15 which is why the US bureaucracy have always hated them. @@alex-fv2mj
President Reagan used Michael Jackson [a Jehovahs Witness] to soften this outrageous authoritarian law and that MADD woman seemed to buckle at the knee in joy [though her daughter's death was a tragedy].To be fair : at least he negotiated with the Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Iceland.
I am from europe and went to US 20 years ago (time flies…😢) for several months, and what I remember is being asked my passport to buy beer in supermarket, to enter some bar/club. I also did have some young people came to me to ask if I could buy them beer from the store. I was in california so also people where very scared of publicly carrying a bottle of alcohol (even unopened if I remember well) … and many other small details like that. So it left me an impression , not really about people drinking, but more an impression of some sort of general hysteria about alcool, where in Europe I believe the subject is more or less a non event.
I had similar experiences in the US. Everyone, regardless of age, needs to produce ID to purchase drink. I was told that stores are subject to agents sending people in without ID in order to test the storekeepers ability in always looking for ID. No exceptions are made in this rule. In a different slant I was amused to see cans of beer on sale in Rome in a shop that also had seating for the consumption of drinks and confectionery bought in the shop. Such informal coffee shops would never be allowed to sell beer in prudish Ireland. One must get a wine license to sell wine in restaurants and cafes. Only in theaters and museums and art galleries do you find cafes that also have wine on sale. It seems that Ireland makes a distinction between the so-called "civilised" elements in society, who enjoy a good play, historical artifact or painting but the powers that be cannot stand the thought of the lower orders and the horny handed sons of toil getting their hands on alcohol, even beer. This class distinction even goes as far as in 3rd level education where the Universities have student Bars open at licensing hours but the technical colleges do not. Our Parliament building also has a bar, subsidised by the taxpaying public, and the subject of an inquiry over some people not paying the bar bills.
The 21th Amendment exists, but the 18th is still quite present in a lot of heads. (The 18th was Prohibition, the 21st repealed it. I'm pretty sure the 18th is the only Amendment that was ever repealed)
@@jgdooley2003 I'm pretty sure stores here in Germany are also tested for adherence to the Youth Protection Act.
And I always thought that the Irish Republic was founded on the idea of a classless society but I suppose one should look at the example of that in France-where that cult came from.What surprises me is how authoritarian the country has become ,though to be fair, it presents itself with a smiling feminine face [both sexes] unlike Nazi Germany or the USSR. ' The Government is your friend and wants to help you'... @@jgdooley2003
I'm not sure if it was intentional but I love this new direction for the content of the channel
There never was any attempt on my part to brag, fit in or make some kind of show of bravado in front of others; I only just consumed my own glass of wine on sundays and I kept doing so to this day. Individual character matters! Legislation-wise I would recommend not to tighten the laws any further in that it is more a matter of managing it or having your own personal stance on it if you will rather than forbidding it altogether. Totally appreciated the work behind the video, glad to be here to support it Ashton 😄 🇮🇹 🌝 👋
This is hands down the best comparison of drinking culture in Europe and the US I've ever seen. So extremely factual, showing it from so many angles. It still boggles my mind how you are able to do so much research every week and then put together these amazing videos. Not only that, but better videos than some I've seen where there has been an entire research team hard at work for a long time. I don't know how you do it, but I'm amazed...
Thank you ❤
@@TypeAshtonjust discovered your channel. interesting topics, well researched & presented. Looking forward to seeing more videos
You should be saying why do eastern european countries have 0.0 blood limits for driving and western ones like Uk have more american like 0.08 limits. Theres a reason the more corrupt less well run ones have the 0.00 limit
@@TypeAshtonIreland’s is 18 and you become an adult at 18 in Ireland In sixth year you have graduation, debs and in my case end of year most people had a few beers, ciders or few glasses of wine and spirits. Reagan is responsible for a lot wrong in your country of birth. Public transport or lack thereof is important is a determining factor in not drink driving or drink drinking. Scandinavia apart from Denmark and Finland are the European USA when it comes to alcohol. I only have a few pints of 5 percent ale a week . I think 18 is good.
@@TypeAshtonDrunk driving is a misnomer drink driving is a better term
it all comes down to "responsible drinking". here a short personal story about one of my kids (i have it done with both). young teens are for sure courious about everything and of course about alcohol too. and me and my wife decided to have their first drinking experience in a save and controlled enviroment. so we allowed her to have a party with her friends at her 14 birthday with alcohol involved. we got the permisson from other parents to serve their kids alcohol at that party. its was a really fun party (for both, the parents and the kids) the kids gone through all stages that alcohol bring to you. and the next morning was the greatest for us as parents ^^. well, since this day we had no worries about our kids that they would drink behind our knowledge. they had now known what alcohol can do to you. none of them is a alcohlic or is drinking until they pass out at a party. they drink now "responsible". and i personally think i would be more glad to have a drunk child as one that is dead by shooting in a school or at the street ....... greetings
That’s a pretty huge leap. Why are you thinking about your kids getting shot? What kind of life are you leading?
@NormaJean951 i am just glad that i dont live in the USA and was refering to it. feel free to interpret my last sentence in every way you want to do so.
@@NormaJean951Its United States. The country with most deaths from shootings on the whole planet.
@@NormaJean951well...the fact that the lead cause of death for children in the US is guns...and everywhere else it isn't. Might be a reason, that the thought has occured. 😏🤷♂️
I'd say 14 is a bit young for it (I would have waited until the 16th birthday), but the method is known to work wonders.
Kudos on your cross-cultural observations!! I think there is a distinction to be made about family rituals in each culture and how they may shape our understanding about drinking culture. I grew up in two cultures: one French-speaking, the other English-speaking. In the French environment, the European convention of offering younger teens wine or beer at special family dinners and formal occasions is common; this reality is sometimes a bit of a culture shock for an English-speaking teen from the US or another province of Canada. What I find fascinating is the cultural dynamic at play when this happens. It’s not so much which cultural group is the bigger binge-drinker so much as the importance that drinking has on the ritual of eating with friends and family. My observation: English-speaking North Americans, Britons, Australians and New Zealanders may have a greater tendency to drink for the sake of drinking; Europeans (including French-speaking Canadians) grow up learning that drinking helps to balance, complement or even enhance the dining experience. Think how the French have an alcoholic pairing for almost any dish. In that way, perhaps, young Europeans learn early on how to manage their alcoholic consumption because it’s so closely tied to family rituals, social acceptance and food culture, whereas in more English-speaking environments, drinking is both historically and culturally associated with a negative frame of reference, such as temperance laws, alcoholism, addiction and that drunk relative that has once again fallen off the wagon.
Your an extremely lucky person to have the opportunity to be an American and live in Germany. I had the good fortune to get to visit Germany way back in 1997 and I fell in love with the place. I always thought I'd get to go back there some day but unfortunately I don't see that happening. Anyway I really enjoyed your video and it brought back memories of when I came back home and told friends about how you coud walk into a Mcdonalds and order a beer with your happy meal no one would ever really believe me. BTW for some reason I remember Germany's tree's and grass as being a more or deeper green color as what we have here in the states and everything seeming just cleaner for some reason. I'm just curios if you see it that way or if it's just something my mind has made up and added to the memeory?
That 21 year old drinking age and the aggressive populist campaigns must be that „freedom“ thing Americans like to boast about so much. Greetings from unfree Europe (where we actually have much more freedom in most areas of living)
The land of the free and the home of the dumb.
But they can freedom drive with 16 (I just imagine a 16 year old on the outskirt of Brescia in a Cosworth) and then that other thin with guns too, they are so responsible
Maybe a more appropriate consideration would be the individualism in the US vs the European sense of communal identity. The US tends to have this delusional idea of “individualism” and “self-made”, neither of which are really true. Europeans, from what I understand stand, have more of a collective sense of identity and thus aren’t as repulsed by social safety nets, etc., as Americans. Could it be at least partially that this sense of responsibility to one’s community at least subconsciously helps dissuade people from putting others at risk by engaging in risky behavior? After all, we do not make decisions in a vacuum, we make them within the framework of our personal worldviews.
@@texaszag8748 the main difference is the definition of freedom. Of course these are all generalizations but there’s some truth to it: Americans tend to define freedom - as you said - through individualism. It is correct that you can choose not to pay for health care and that works as long as you are healthy. Europeans on the other hand gladly pay for compulsory health care because it takes away uncertainty. In our case freedom comes through not having to worry about the „what ifs“ in life since our societies agreed on creating systems that make almost everyone pay but also almost everyone being taken care of when in need of such services regardless of being wealthy or poor. And there are a lot of other examples like that, gun rights for example. Americans define freedom through being allowed to own and sometimes carry guns. Europeans define freedom through generally not having to be afraid of random people walking around with guns, not having to think about shooters entering schools, in Europe we’ve never been taught about those scenarios at school because they simply almost never happened. I fully agree with your comment, the American individualism comes with a lot of downsides for the general society and reduces the overall freedom while European conformism - if you want to call it like that - creates a common freedom in your everyday life, as in not having to worry about many things a lot of Americans have to worry about.
@@tarant315 I mean since in many European countries driving with 17 has been a thing for more than 15 years now it’s not much of a difference anymore. In Germany you can drive with 17 as long as a parent (or someone who’s registered to drive with you) is on the passenger seat and in case you for example have to drive to work or vocational school there are exceptions that can allow you driving alone with 17 on a predefined route (which you mustn’t leave otherwise you’re not allowed to drive alone). So I don’t see much of a difference anymore. The main difference is that a German drivers license requires much more theory lessons and practical lessons and costs more than 3000€ these days
I think the biggest difference in learning responsible drinking is actually not the age limit, it is the attitude of adults towards drinking alcohol around children. I remember going to family meetups and all the adults except the designated drivers having some wine and beer. I remember my parents coming home quite drunk with a taxi, and my dad having to get the car the next day by foot. (I thought it was stolen.) When we are teens and going out alone, our parents tell us to not get into a car with a drunk person and to call them to pick us up, or they give us taxi money. They also tell us where the "Night Taxi" (a rideshare service after the buses stop) are and to call them. It is not some hidden thing you have to do in secret by getting an older person to buy you alcohol. We even stopped a reckless friend here and a drunk stranger trying to get into a car there and took the car keys off them and called them a taxi. If a policeperson sees a very drunk teenager (or adult), and deems them unfit to go home, they either bring you home or, if you live alone, put you in a holding cell and bring you water and food. Having alcohol is very normalized, for better or worse, and so is dealing with the consequences.
I do think it's also the age limit. People start partying and wanting to do adult things like drinking by age 16, so I think it makes sense to allow a little bit of it to teach them to do so responsibly. I think a legal drinking age that is unrealistically high, like 21 conflicts with responsible learning, because it doesn't take away the teenagers' desire to try this thing that adults seem to enjoy. They'll do it anyway but now are forced to do so secretly in places where there are no adults or older youths around to provide some oversight and intervention if needed, plus if a minor does have a problem with drinking, they can't seek out help without incriminating themselves if underage drinking is handled as a punishable offense. Also I believe having a lower drinking age for weaker alcoholic beverages than for strong alcohol, like Germany does (15 for beer, wine and similar stuff below 15% and 18 for anything with 15% or more) is a good way to teach children that alcohol percentage matters and not to overestimate how many shots they can take, because it takes a while for the alcohol to develop it's the full effect. Whereas banning everything outright may suggest that it's all the same.
This is such a great channel with such well-thought comparisons about the US and Germany, thanks for the effort preparing all of this information. I'm wondering if you have any recommendation about a similar KZhead channel, but about Italy instead of Germany?
Or if anyone could recommend a similar channel talking about Italy. Most of the channels about Italy are of people who spent a month there and are comparing Italy and the USA.
I'm traveling and living between two very different worlds. Sweden and Southern USA. My observation is that Americans do drink much more frequently than we do. But I think it's down to culture aswell. See in Sweden there's this strong culture of "Fika" (coffee/tea plus something sweet) and this isn't just among kids and teens either but among adults too. My brother in law (American) actually took this tradition to heart as he sort of made a comment on that adults in USA often feel the need to socialize around a drink either at home or at a bar , and he got thrilled when I told him that we swedes don't necessarily require a drink to socialize . And just like that I have to teach him and his wife swedish baking recipes😂. And coffee shops in Sweden usually have longer opening hours than American counterparts (not including Starbucks) so there really isn't a need to drink alcohol or perceived need to it. But that's just my observation and anecdote.
I think what you said towards the end is key in understanding the attitude difference between Europe and America: If drunk driving by young adults is a problem, Europeans would attack the problem by restricting driving and not drinking. It actually never occurred to me as a European that this was such an important factor for the high legal drinking age in the US. I learned this only from your video.
My dad was in the Canadian Army and we were posted to Northern Germany when I was 16, it was an interesting phenomenon yo observe who newly arrived kids reacted to the availability of alcohol, mostly beer. Initially there was excessive drinking but after a short time the drinking became more moderate. I believe it was a function of the knowledge of availability. Most kids came from parts of Canada where the drinking age was 21 so having the ability to go to a gasthof was new and novel. After time passed, being able to go for a couple of beer was “normal” so excessive drinking was less commonplace. A fee three years in Germany, coming back to Canada and bo longer able to enjoy a beverage legally was a strain to say the least.
As a Canadian, I can't think of any place where the legal drinking age is 21. Was this a super long time ago?
Yes we went to Germany in January 1967. Back then the drinking laws in Vanada were archaic.
@@indrinita It was lowered in early 1970s. It is 19 in all provinces except Quebec, Manitoba and Alberta where it is 18.
The age was 18 when Pierre lowered the age of majority to 18 from 21 to get the young voters. But in provinces with high school with 12 grades it had intoxicated 18 year olds coming back to school after lunch. They raised the legal age to 19 to keep it out of high schools.
@@barryhaley7430 They never raised the drinking age from 18 to 19 in Quebec, Alberta, Manitoba.
just saw this channel yesterday and today second video, and congratulations, very interesting and well done job, and I would like to comment but first I have a very thick accent and my writing you could say as well, I am from Argentina living for the last 27 years in the USA and before that 6 years in Zürich Switzerland and saw both cultures
Alcohol wasn't explicitly allowed in my house when I was underage, but it wasn't ever really a taboo. My parents had a policy: if I ever found myself in a situation where my only way home involved driving under the influence, I could call them, ask for a ride home, and they would pick me up, no questions asked. (I never had to avail myself of that option, but I was certainly glad it was there.) It was about encouraging safe, responsible behavior, even when you "make a mistake." Like...I personally would love to lower the rates of binge drinking, but if people are gonna do it, I would much rather they be safe than shamed.
As a German, I got my first portion of alcohol from my mom at age 14. She said she'd rather be around when I try it out so she can have some sort of control, rather than me trying it in secret and going over board. I did drink semi-regularly with my fans a few years later. But now that I am an adult I don't even wanna drink much. Idk if that's to do with me having it tried out wo early, or if it is a personality thing.
In the UK it is legal to drink alcohol from the age of 5, you can drink alcohol (beer, cider or wine) in a pub from 16 but only if consumed with a meal (& someone over 18 must purchase it). At 18 you can buy alcohol. However, there is no age limit to purchase yeast, plastic bucket, malt extract and a hydrometer - allowing you to brew your own beer (as I did from age ~13, was a tradition to make scrumpy from fallen apples in my family, my beer was pretty tame by comparison).
In Sweden there is no age limit at all on drinking, but there is an age limit (I think) of 18 in bars and an age limit of 20 to buy in an alcohol store.
@@francisdec1615 yep, the same in Norway and Denmark (just that in Denmark the purchasing age is 16).
Same here. Boots used to sell the stuff then stopped when some weird CEO got involved, but Wilko sold all the homebrew kits and equipment until they were forced into bankruptcy recently.
I'm glad you brought up transportation. The US relies on having teenagers being able to drive. I was raised in NJ and never drove much until I was out of college, but I live in rural MN today and you can't get anywhere without a car.
Yes, that's the thing that surprised me the most with regard to drinking and driving. People have to use the car to drive to a restaurant or bar and they drink alcohol and then drive back home, each in their own car. We (in the Netherlands) would agree to a designated driver if we would have to use a car to go somewhere and that driver would bring you home. However, the distances are a lot smaller and people tend to live closer together so I do understand why people would drink and drive and maybe why the alcohol limit is a bit higher than it is in Europe. But it did surprise me the first few times I noticed this in the US coming from a country where you can typically take a bicycle to go to a restaurant or bar.
The weirdest thing to me is that in quite a few states you can get a DUI without actually _driving_ your car. "Operating" a vehicle while drunk is enough for a DUI charge and some legislations define "operation a vehicle" not as starting the engine or at least having the ignition turned on, but they already deem it "operating a vehicle" when you're in the car and have "the means to physically control the car", meaning the keys are also somewhere in the car (because where else would you put them?). So: - you can't stay at the bar after closing time, - you can't _walk_ home (probably too far, plus potential "drunk in public" charge), You can't take public transportation to get home (doesn't exist, plus "drunk in public") - you can't sleep it off in a public space ("drunk in public" and "loitering") - and you can't sleep it off in your car either, because that already constitutes DUI Yet people expect a drunk person not to drive home drunk? 🧐 It's literally the safest option in terms of avoiding a fine when there's no legal alternative, because it's the fastest way home, thus minimizes the amount of time during which a police patrol could stop and fine you. It's like the law is actually encouraging drunk driving! 🤦♂️ There's even been documented cases here on KZhead where people were arrested for trespassing/loitering while waiting for an Uber or friends to pick them up!
You can get a drivers licence in the USA between the ages of 16-18.@@chardon73
Good video and as was mentioned, access to quality public transportation is hugely important especially for teenagers and young adults who still haven't moved out. Contrary to popular belief, good public transportation is not available in every corner of Europe either. Eg in the Nordic countries, you often just have to choose a designated driver, who has to remain sober until the bitter end. Generally here in Finland at least, people tend avoid drinking and driving. The negative impacts mostly come from diseases related to alcoholism and from injuries due to domestic violence.
I'm 58 and French. I really saw a decline in drinking in France during my life time. When I started to work in the 80s, must of my older colleagues had either a beer or a glass of wine with their meal at lunch time. Today, not so much. If you go to a restaurant at lunch time, you'll see that most people do not drink anymore around, while when I was in my twenties, most tables would have a bottle of wine. I'm not sure whether it is a conscious choice or not, but in my case I can't remember the last time I took some alcool in a restaurant at lunch time during a working day. Of course this is my own experience and it might not reflect what other people think, but I really saw a deep transformation of the French society, in the last 20 years. I should also note that there is a strange correlation with smoking that is not longer as prevalent in French society as it was before, as if drinking and smoking had become private habits that you don't show up in public anymore.
I have observed the same in Germany at the same time.
This is definitely true in the UK too. In the 80's work lunches regularly involved alcohol. Now it's very rare to see.
Same in Austria. We meet from a club a bit outside so anyone drives by car. Only a few people drink alcohol and then mostly only one beer. Or there are the couples where he asks his partner if she drives today and then orders a second beer or otherwise stays with juice.
@@reinhard8053 This is quite interesting. It seems to match the statistics she showed up in which European countries seem to evolve in the same direction in terms of drinking. I wonder if there is a social pressure that people feel unconsciously. Something that would tell other people that you don't live a healthy life, that you might not be a good employee. I really have no idea.
@@lesfreresdelaquote1176 The biggest pressure is your driving licence ! The other might be that alcohol is drunk because of taste not only to get drunk (at least from a certain age on).
Hello Ashton! Thank you for this video. Comparing Germany there are some factors that have also an influence about young people drink and not driving: - The cost of a driving license and the amount of effort in training to get one. A German driving license costs about € 2.000,- and it takes 12+ training lessons in a driving school plus 12+ practical driving trainings. It can take half a year to get a license on a busy schedule. That is a major effect. - Teens can start driving already at an age of 17 under adult (parental) guidance. So the first year the teens get their expierence on driving a car under control of a parent. - the amount of effort to get a license back can be complicated. If it is not the first act of being caught driving drunk, a license can be kept until the driver is certified in a hard psychological test. The rate of failure is incredible high, so absolutely noone (except some silly lunatics) risks to loose their license forever because nowadays a car driving license is an absolutely dependency for geting a job. - getting a license includes a trial period of two years. In this two years any minor misuse of driving (too fast, red lights, even wrong parking and of course driving drunk) can delete the license of the youngster. Ig you loose it, you start at zero which means you pay the high rate for training another. And after passing the tests, the trial period starts again. by the way: getting caught drunk on a bicycle can take your license away as well.
UK: from age 5 - at home under the supervision of an adult; from age 16 - if served with a meal; age from age 18 adult- no restrictions. There's no age distinction between lower alcohol drinks like beer and wine or higher alcohol drinks like whisky. Some places have public drinking bans, but these are limited to that specific location.
It's not "JUST" a drinking problem, it's also a car-dependency and a walkable cities problem.
You brought up a very important difference between US and Europe. Available public transportation, and driving. I have met a lot of people in various parts of Europe, and they don't drive, or don't have a vehicle. I am old enough that I remember a 19 y/o drinking age when I graduated high school. Strangely enough, not as many 19 y/o drunk drivers as compared to adults. I feel it is more a responsibility issue and not as much an age issue. We, as a culture, tent to focus on what we can't have and obsess in trying to achieve it. I have seen other, more relaxed cultures where things are not as desired if they are not "taboo" and pose less of a problem. And you also mentioned penalties. We can be a little too forgiving for breaking the laws when it comes to DUI. Losing a license is not as big a deal as losing a vehicle. You can drive without a license, even though it is illegal. It is much harder to drive without a car.
I'm 52 y/o guy from Madrid, a city with 3.5 million people, in the center of the 4th biggest metropolitan area in Europe. 12 subway lines, 300 subway stations, 225 bus lines, 2200 buses running every day, 25 nocturnal (00:30 - 06:00) bus lines with about 100 buses available every 20 minutes... never *EVER* felt the urge to get a driving license. On the other side, our city has only 30 km (18 miles) of diameter, so there's a whole country out there where you need to drive to get around. There's almost no public transportation outside of the bigger 10 cities, but there have been big campaigns about alcohol consumption at TV in the last 40 years. Accidents have decreased, 18000 km of highways have been built, roads are safer, but we still have another 250.000 kilometres of local roads and too many stupid youngsters.
Anti-drunk driving ads in NYC frequently feature the subway because it is the most extensive public transportation system in the United States. When I moved to the Bay Area, it was just a rather kill joy message that buzzed driving is drunk driving. Nothing about taking BART into SF and home, etc.
I mean the issue is that if you take away the car you essentially take away a person’s ability to sustain themselves monetarily. You are essentially making people destitute if you enforce such an aggressive policy which realistically won’t move the needle a ton with the DUI’s bc it’s not usually a rational decision
im a 36 year old german and have NEVER owned a car in my life and i dont plan to ever do..
@@badart3204 Why do you think you need to take away cars to have public transportation? People in Europe/East Asia are not taken away their car. Some of them choose to not own a car because they don't need it. Most Americans HAVE NO CHOICE BUT to own a car. Isn't that ridiculus? I would much rather only drvie my car for fun, not to have myself stuck in traffic every day.
In Germany you can only let a minor drink if they are directly supervised by their parents. The other thing to consider is public transport. In Germany I could typically walk to the bar, or there was easily available public transport. I could literally walk a couple of hundred yards and there would be a bus stop and the bus ran every 10 minutes.
Mid European here. As a former 15yro, yes. We do drink, a lot. But I don't remember a single person (w/wo) driving license that would go back while behind the wheel. We walked back. Or called a cab. Or that one sober friend. Generally speaking.
So, conclusion: Europeans don't handle their drinking better, they handle their driving better. Imagine an America where Reagan and MADD put their weight behind transit as a solution to drunk driving instead of drinking ages and criminal law.
I can never find again, but many years ago I read a report about binge drinking in UK and US universities. They were confused why the US numbers were much higher than the UK. Then they compared the definition, the US was five drinks in a session and the UK was 3 days of heavy drinking
I'm from the UK, and the English are famously annoying drunks. A problem across Europe. Accedote, I was on a work trip in the US with a group. We were invited out for a drink after work. We were utterly surprised when almost everyone left after A drink. That's almost unheard of here
@@scollybWe are famously annoying drunks at home, too. I like a drink with the best of them, but if I have too many, not often nowadays, I tend to just smile at people. I take my dog out for a walk last thing at weekend and have a special route that avoids pubs.
@@scollyb I don't know how they are at home, but when they come to Spain they can't control themselves ^_^'
@@scollyb I live in Amsterdam and reading your comment I was wondering if this ad campaign is still running in the UK? kzhead.info/sun/i5GqZ7qXZ4GhloE/bejne.htmlsi=LXe8pMQIKx5fb8qJ
@jal051 they are similar at home but generally more spread out, only Friday and Saturday are bad and only in a few locations. So it's worse in tourist areas
When I started college in Scotland in 1979, it was easy to tell which students had been forbidden alcohol by their parents as they were the ones developing a drink problem! Those of us who had tried it before found it easier to keep the levels down. The other think that helped was that, in those days, we were mostly on student grants. This made us have less money to spend. In fact, almost the only time I spent near a bar was at the OTC mess (it was cheaper there).
Just finished the Roundabout video and this 6-month-old video caught my attention... because of driving and drinking. I will never forget one particular Christmas evening of my childhood, when the whole family sat for dinner and my granddad poorer wine to all of us, the kids as well... and said "taste alcohol now, so you know what it tastes like". Drinking alcohol is part of live in the old world... it has been there for centuries... banning it or trying to regulate will bring only trouble. My Granddad was a wise man, and as such he learned how to live with the human weaknesses... and that trying to ban them, would only make them the so much more desirable. That is why... I had that awfully tasting wine as a kid. I guess it is the purpose of drinking... I was taught, drinking is to warm up the party and untie the tongue, not to get "hammered" or compete on who can drink more. Drunk Driving is a whole another subject, and that has to do a lot, with driving in US. In US, driving is a god given right, not a privilege. You can fail 20% of your test and still get a driving license, passing a vehicle on the right... is OK, switching lines without signaling... is OK, driving slow on the passing line (most left line) is OK as well. Could you make a comparing video on German driving law vs. Kansas driving law... roadsigns, rules, questions on a test vs. % allowed to pass? Now that, would be interesting to see.
I feel like I’ve seen you on another channel doing more in-depth(LONG) videos.🤷🏼♀️ I do KZhead when I have small snippets of time. Mostly a reader. Anyway, love this! New subscriber😉 Btw, USA’s driving culture and kids not knowing their limit I blame for the 21 law here. It’s saved a bunch of kids! My children learned their limits under our supervision. Maybe considered radical here, but I take it as wisdom.
Since drunk driving is used as the explanation for the higher drinking age, I would like to see some data on the average age of drunk drivers. In Belgium most people that get caught drunk driving are the older generation (above 60). I can see that in my own family. On family gatherings, it's always the older men that get behind the wheel after 10+ beers, while people of my age (44) and younger usually make sure they have a designated driver before the party starts.
The UK is kind of relaxed outside of legally mandated establishments. I was having wine with dinner and shandy (beer mixed with lemonade) very young. My parents made sure to monitor our consumption and when I was old enough to go out to a pub on my own at 18 it wasn't that big a deal. I've been drunk a few times, but not often. I can also remember being 15 or so and having a friend round and drinking a few cans of beer as we played D&D. My parents weren't home and didn't mind as long as we didn't drink too much. Parental guidance rather than judgement goes a long way towards responsibility. America is kind of weird at times, calling themselves the land of the free but restricting stuff most other countries don't have a problem with.
When we were at dinner in Tuscany with several families the teens asked if they could drink wine at dinner. I replied certainly, but one of. Y physician friends would pour. They had a glass of wine with dinner. So did the adults. I told them that’s how one is to drink-as a complement to a dinner. “You didn’t see any of your parents over drinking or getting drunk. That is how adults act.” I hope you can grow up to be such wonderful people as your parents.”
As usual, your view is like a breath of fresh air. And it gives momentum to reconsider some of my rusty opinions about my thought process. I do think travel and going (to live in) other cultures gives great incentives in questioning why these differences occur, and why you don't condemn them beforehand because the don't fit in your own cultural picture you seen in other ways. So keep up with your comments, and stick with your opinion, unless someone, with rational thoughts and proper arguments can convince to at least think about another stance. That's what I try to do.
I’m from Mexico but was raised in the US. In Mexico, the drinking culture is similar to Europe in the sense that it’s not taboo for teenagers to have access to alcohol. When I was in high school and would go to a party in Mexico, people didn’t really think twice when alcohol was present. It just wasn’t a big deal and was somewhat expected. Sure, you’d always have a couple of people who overdid it, but all in all I found people generally had a few drinks and knew their limits despite being young. In the US on the other hand, it was completely different. When I was in high school and would end up at a party that had alcohol, people would react in one of two ways: completely freak out and leave, or, get overly excited and black out. This attitude remained prevalent into university. I went to university in the US and it was shocking how many ambulances were called to the freshmen dorms the first month of school. People simply didn’t know their limits and had their first experiences with alcohol in an unsupervised setting.
A friend of mine ended up in a relationship with a fella from Rhode Island while at uni. Eventually she ended up going over to the USA for a friends and family visit. One night she was thrilled when someone finally said "Do you want to go for a beer?" and she couldn't get her coat on quickly enough. They got to some dive in the middle of nowhere and she settled in for a decent session. However, after a beer, just the one, the other folk got ready to leave. She was mortified. "A beer" apparently meant just one. Needless to say that on her return to Humberside she terminated the relationship. The thing is if you treat adults like children the you will get what you deserve in the terms of grim statistics.
She sounds like a catch
Asking a Brit to have "one" is a self defeating move. It's a three drink minimum and it may turn into a long weekend if it's going well....
So the relation was based on the amount of alcohol consumed. I think that fella dodged a bullet there.
Thank goodness this guy dodged an obvious lush.
@@brettbuck7362 hahaha Americans are so lightweight. You think wanting more than 1 drink makes you a lush? Pathetic.
Austrian here. I bought Alcohol when I was 7 or so. Not for myself, but for my Parents. We had a shop around the corner, and I frequently popped over to buy a few small items, and it sometimes included a six-pack of beer. At the time it was legal, if the cashier was certain you didn't buy it for yourself. I started drinking with 16. It was a big social activity, and so I had a lot of "party weekends". When I finished with school at age 19, I pretty much stopped heavy drinking. I still enjoy a drink frequently, but that's about it - one or two beers. I haven't gotten "drunk" in years, yet some metrics would classify me as a heavy drinker. The whole problem with self reported drinking habit surveys is that they are wildly inaccurate, because of the stigma that drinking has. I enjoy the taste of a cold beer after a hard day, especially in summer, but I can also easily go for a month without any alcohol (I do that every other year or so for thhe period before easter). The real problem is when people get *drunk* on a regular basis. To me, someone who enjoys a beer or glass of wine every day of the week is a healthier person that the one who gets completely hammered every other week, but doesn't drink in between. But in statistics, that would be 365 drinking days a year vs. 25...
Other Austrian here: Are you old? Because that seems to be a "Greißler" you are describing...
Thank you. This video was well presented with excellent arguments. I became legal in Ohio at 18, 19 and 21! The irony is that I just finished my global drinking tour: 12 countries on three continents plus 8 US states. I was drunk only once when I broke my cardinal rule. Do not try to keep up with Slovaks while drinking alcohol! Hard lesson to learn. 😮
Yeah, don't try to keep up with anyone. I think the most important lesson is never to drink in order to impress anyone else, only drink as much as you want to and feel comfortable with. If you get dizzy or start to feel sicl it's time to stop, don't care what the others say/do Drinking a lot or drinking fast should never be glorified nor seen as a competition, ever!
Yes, in Slovakia you will be stopped by the police if you do not drive in serpentine lines. They'll have you blow into the testing device, and if your blood alcohol level is below 3,5 per mille, you'll be forcibly carried back to the bar (lol). No, of course that's nonsense, but the boys there (especially in the country) can take a hell of a lot.
I've never even tried alcohol. Just never interested me and I had alcoholic parents. That said, I usually shy away from videos on the topic, but your presentation, being a LOT more academic, wins all the prizes!!
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoy the videos.
I took a few sips in high school and on a few occassions. I realised that alcohol tastes like shit to me so I started wondering why are people into that 😂
A very long time ago, 1969, we went on a school trip to a youth hostel in southern Germany for a week (maybe 2 weeks), every night the teachers in charge allowed us to go down to the local bar and drink beer. It wasn't a problem then. But even back in the UK, when we went on school field trips, we were allowed to go to local pubs. It wasn't an issue then.
We went to Munich in 10th grade... and of course, a day trip to the Andechs beer garden (I think it was hiking?` I remember the Deutsches Museum MUCH better...) was included.
In the 80ies we were on school trips in Austria and Italy (age ~14-17) and it was a planned activity to visit a vine cellar and be allowed to drink alcohol. There were some who drank too much and one teacher was only driving these back to our hostel. There was only a problem for some when they bought their own alcohol and drank far too much one evening at the hostel. But even that didn't have much consequences for anyone.
I remember in the 1970s being able to buy lime and lager in vending machines in the UK.
@@annenelson5656 I remember that at a school trip to Belgium (I am Dutch) where we were there was also a lager vending machine outside. That must have been in 2007 or 08. in The Netherlands that was not a thing anymore. Way to easy to get drunk.
As a US Army dependent in Germany, going to bars weekend nights became a frequent occurrence as young as 13. What I found was that if you act old enough to be there, you will be treated as such, but if you can't act mature, you won't be welcome no matter what your age. Following the rule of thumb of behaving like I belonged also made me inconspicuous to Army Military Police when they did come to pick up dependent minors, while many of my peers stood out so badly that they'd inevitably get taken out. After returning to the US, my peers who had never been exposed to drinking culture exhibited even less maturity when consuming alcohol (this is in addition to them being less mature in general.) And the heightened enforcement made me a more accomplished drunk, and I had a good enough sense for when the police would respond to get out in time. The only time I was cited for underage drinking was when I stood my ground and took the heat for all my fleeing friends, and I kept my cool enough that the officer didn't feel the need to make an arrest.
My observation during my Au-Pair stay in Northern California was, that my american friends were less responsible. My friends and me would take turns when driving to our favorite club - and when it was their turn they would usually drink so much that back in Germany I would have taken a taxi - but this was not an option for me back then due to the costs and lack of sufficient taxi options...I lived about 20 miles south of central San José - so walking (lol) wasn't an option either. This was an unusual situation as I was used to friends not drinking when it was their turn to drive in Germany...so what you are saying at minute 18 is something I fully agree - my friend did all the crazy drinking between 16 - 18...
Dear Ashton, there is one bullet point missing in this discussion: What type of alcohol is consumed typically? Fermented or distilled, because that's a big difference. There are a lot of countries that produce wine and sparkling wine (due to the climate) from the very south of Europe to the middle regions. Then you have a corridor of beer-producing regions in the middle and in the north and east regions that primarily produce distilled alcohol. When you grow up in a region that considers wine to be a staple of every meal besides breakfast you learn to enjoy the taste without the need to get buzzed as quickly as possible. Whereas distilled alcohol has only one purpose - getting drunk. That's why the French probably drink every day (without getting drunk) while people in Iceland may only drink once per week but most likely will be drunk every time. And you can guess which way produces more addictions and severe problems, esp. in the long run. There are some regions in Germany (esp. more in the northern and eastern parts) where, when drinking with friends, you follow a beer by a shot. This speeds up the time to get drunk significantly and I despise it. With beer, wine, and sparkling wine you can't drink fast enough (because of the amount of fluid) to reach mindless drunkenness., but you can with intermittent spirits or only drinking distilled alcohol. Just look at the statistics of which countries have the highest rates of alcoholism in the world and you'll find no "wine-countries" among the top ten. I've regularly consumed wine and sparkling wine since I was a teen, I was drunk 2 times in 45 years, and I've never driven drunk in 40 years. I really enjoy a glass of wine with my dinner but if I have to drive I don't drink. My driver's license cost me 1500 DM in 1983 which was already a lot of money for me then (though barely average then). I live in a rural area and would be screwed if I lost it. CU twinmama
I am from a rural area in Northern Germany and to follow a beer by a shot was 30-40 years ago. We drink our beer like people drink wine in other regions, one or two to a meal or a few beer with friends ( and it has less alcohol than wine ). The problem is the amount of alcohol, when people drink too much, but I think there are minor regional differences in Germany.
Are you consuming weasel's water? One most definitely can get absolutely mindlessly drunk on beer or wine. All it takes is volume.
Two small corrections/protests to some sweeping statements. 1 "distilled alcohol has only one purpose - getting drunk." - admittedly it's a minority but the higher quality spirits such as cognac, single malt whisky, are definitely not made "to get drunk". 2 "With beer, wine, and sparkling wine you can't drink fast enough" - and this is just plain nonsense.
@@MarcelVolker i am pretty sure you know that was not the point she was making with her whole post. so why point this out? to out yourself as an annoying know-it-all that nobody wants to be friends with? is your day that bad that this makes you feel better? think about it.
i mean, the "youcant drink fastenough" is just plain wrong and potentaily even dangerous to claim... you can drink fast enough to get dead drunk on beer and wine. @@robopecha
Thw worst thing about drinking (and drugs, and gambling, and gaming....) that you can do around your kids is doing it *in secret*. Kids know, kids see a lot of things and what you are teaching them is doing addictive things in secret. What is the first sign of alcoholism? Secrecy. While when you allow a kid to drink one glass on special occasions what you teach them is moderation and control.
The first sign of alcoholism is not secrecy. Are we just making shit up?
Another factor to consider when talking about how the lower legal limit may startle people into not drunk driving is that 0.05% BAC isn't the limit where you get into trouble, it's just the limit after which you are completely forbidden to drive. If you have less BAC, say 0.03%, insurance will still consider that if you crash. 0.05 is only the limit at which the police can fine an otherwise completely correct driver, and tell them to park their car for now
Waaay back in 1979, after we had finished taking our A levels the students & teachers all went down to the local pub for a drink together. It was a cool way to celebrate the ending of one way of life before we students all went our separate ways. We couldn't have done it if we had had to wait another three years to be able to drink alcohol legally at 21. All these years later all that is left are the memories and the Pack Horse Inn. It was just someones idea on the spur of the moment but I'm glad they had it, much better than a "graduation" on reflection.
After moving to Europe I definitely drink more than I did in the USA. I think you cannot understate the effect that good transit has on the limit of drunk driving rates. I also think that the under drinking age in Austria and German allow kids to experiment when they are still at home and "get it out of their system" before they head to university. The amount of binge drinking at Uni here is much less than in the USA. Also a staged approach where beer/wine is available first is good because with low ABV beers it is hard to really endanger yourself, there is just too much volume of liquid.
Edit: I was of legal drinking age while I was in Germany. I was like 27 or so back then and had my own vehicle that was shipped over from the states for me by the Army. So no I wasn't a younger soldier doing these things. Ok so I personally experienced the under age Americans getting to legally drink when I was stationed in Germany back in the early 2000s. So if you were an American serviceman in Germany. Chances were the local German's probably either disliked you. Or flat out hated you. I discovered the best places in Germany to go to and drink and have a much friendlier experience was to be at least 20 miles away from a US Army base lol. And after seeing what I saw when I was there and how normally under age soldiers finally able to drink. Their behavior was horrid to say the least. Not saying those 21 and above were saints or anything. Idiots do be do what idiots do be do. But it was the younger soldiers who really made me feel embarrassed for my profession, and my country. And honestly I think it stems from the 21 legal limits we the US have set for ourselves. With the German's their young people get to try beer allot younger and so the stigma of getting to do adult stuff happens way sooner than it does in the US. The German's by the time they hit 21 are kinda old hands at dealing with drinking. But also don't see it as something to dive into and drown themselves in like we do in the US once were legal drinking age. I saw younger Germans in clubs drinking beers and they didn't go crazy trying to drink themselves into the ground like the 18 yr old soldiers did. It was like the younger soldiers were trying to pack in as much drinking as possible before they had to go back to the US. I think the reason we have so many DUI's in the US is because we don't teach our kids how to deal with things like alcohol before they are old enough to drive. We don't have a drinking culture like the Germans do. Not saying the Germans are perfect. But I will say they seemed to handle the whole thing allot more maturely than we Americans did. Just my thoughts as a veteran who was stationed over there for 3 yrs.
OK, good you mentioned that thing about people far away being friendlier. I can easily see non-drinking reasons why US soldiers in the early 2000s were disliked or hated...
@@walkir2662 That dislike is and was not limited to the early 2000s. Some 60 years before, the Brits had three problems with US soldiers: They are over-paid They are over-sexed They are over here
Also with fraternities in the US. Most of them are alcoholics
The thing about DUIs is that the USA kinda _needs_ pretty much everyone to drive around, while Europe doesn't (as she pointed out at 17:52). In a vacuum you'd be right, raise the driving age and/or lower the drinking age, to allow for more time to learn how to handle both... but it can't work, at least not in the current status-quo. :-|
@@irrelevant_noob That is a USA (and Canada) problem, self inflicted at that.
Nice street map of Berlin in the background ;)
I'm Austrian and although the legal drinking age for alcohol is 16 (beer+wine)/18(hard liquor like Vodka, Rum, Tequila,..), living on the contryside, noone cared, so we all started drinking around 14 (inside of normal bars, noone asked). We started with the hard stuff, more precisely Schnaps and Tequila. By the age I got my driving license (17), I was so "done" with trying myself in alcohol, I was just happy to have the freedom of driving wherever I wanted that the drinking basically nearly stopped (when I was driving a car, I would of course never drink). In my 20s, as a student, I still drank ocassionally but wasn't as interested in it anymore at all as I was when we all started as teens and got mdly drunk. In my late 20s I stopped drinking alcohol altogether because I figured I didn't like the taste and feeling sick after and I've had enough, I now drink maybe 1 time/ year. The last alcoholic beverage I had over 1 year ago, in sept of 2022. I think it's not a bad thing to start early-we started as long as we couldn't harm anyone but by the age we start driving, driving becomes more interesting.. by the age americans start with all the nonsense we are way past it and way more mature about this whole topic.
funny, exactly the same 16/18 law as in Belgium ;-). i feel that it would be smarter to forbid alcohol lemonades at 16 ... baracadi breezer was a real game changer is teens getting quick drunk, since beer it generally not liked much at first taste , most don't overconsume that fast, but baracadi breezer.. , gues you should include things like porto then too ..
haha true I liked alco pops too, like bacardi breezer or eristoff(?) ice and fire(??). yeah I think in Europe it's more. or less the same regarding drinking?@@JeroenJA
Thank you so much for pointing out the complexities of the issue! All those legal restrictions are fairly blunt tools, aren't they? Nobody turns into a responsible person all of a sudden simply because the calendar says it's their birthday. No particular blood alcohol content indicates whether a specific person is able to drive a car safely. In an ideal world, young people would be allowed to experiment with intoxicating substances at minimum risk. There would be ways to get home safely without having to work heavy machinery. There would be societal support for people with early indications of addiction problems. Yeah, I'm dreaming...
You do the most research and work for your videos, you definitely deserve the most credit for it. Thank you.
Thank you!
I really appreciate how nuanced this video is on all sides and even with context to all the statistics. As a german for the drunk driving part, pretty much always when people go out drinking with a car, they have one designated driver who doesn't drink or at maximum 1 beer. And a thought that came to my mind during the abstinence part is that aside from "Don't drink" you could also just say "Don't drive".
You really feel how much work has been put into these educational videos. In my opinion they are proper school material.
Thank you so much.
A major difference in Europe is the attitude to being drunk. When I left the UK about 10yrs ago it was common to see crowds of drunk people going Bar to bar in cities and being very loud and drunk. Going out drinking was seen as adult and even something to boast about. In France by contrast it seemed that such behaviour would be seen as a sign of immaturity and being drunk in public was very found upon. This did seem to have a significant impact on drinking behavior especially among young adults.
The last part about how often do you drink is key. A lot of Americans don't drink ever. Probably around a 1/3rd or so. As somebody who drinks with supper every night, I'm in the top tier of drinkers in the United States. If the alcohol industry had to rely on people like me, it would still collapse economically. That's kind of scary.
Hey, this was interesting to watch nice how you showed many perspectives. I noticed one thing though you said it wasn't elegal to drink for minors. But since the change of legal drinking age of 16 to 18 here in the Netherlands, it has also become a crime to buy alcohol for minors. So if found out the adult whom bought the alcohol for a minor would get a fine. So technically its elegal to drink under age here in the Netherlands 🇳🇱 As for my own habbits growing up, seeing what alcohol does in a medical environment, i stopped drinking altogether
There is of course the added problem of Dutch beer. It's a bit like American Cheese, that's not really cheese either. I know every Dutchmen will now huff and puff and threaten to invade us to come and drink our beer but we are used to that. They will be full with our beer long before our barrels are empty of it. Greetings from Belgium ;-) (for those not from Belgium or The Netherlands. Beer tourism is a thing here)
Overall, I love your videos, Ashton, they are always well-researched, presented calmly and without judgement and very thorough! In this one, though, I found the comparison between how 15-19 years-old in Europe drink and how 15-19 years-olds in the US drink a bit pointless - they're not comparable due to alcohol being legal in the Europe and illegal in the US. There will always be less people willing to indulge in a behaviour when it's behind a legal barrier. It would be more interesting to compare "first-time drinkers" (15-19 in Europe and 21-25 in the US or similar). (Though you did follow it up with the statistics in other age groups, so I'll give you that. I just found this one comparison disappointing in an otherwise so well-researched video.)
Thank you for this nuanced video, always appreciate getting my opinions questioned a bit. A thing that I noticed you didn't mention is that while teens DO get drunk more frequently in countries like mine, Denmark, I'd wager that getting drunk and testing out your limits while you're living at home still is more safe than once you're gone at college and you're perhaps living alone. That definitely made me feel more safe.
In Germany I grew up not drinking low amounts but responsible. You can drink but it's always important not to be an annoyance or even danger to others. - and I prefer it that way! Also: Public transport is less of a safety net for me but mor of an opportunity provider. I'd never drink and drive so having options to meet up somewhere for a drink or two is a great socializing benefit!
I feel the same! When I started drinking alcohol in public, public transport wasn’t that great in my area (that only started to get better when I was in my early twenties), but my friends all lived close by and our parents would always give us some money for a shared taxi back home (every week other parents) and the last one to get home had to call the second to last when she got inside her house safely. And if anything happened and we couldn’t go home together our parents always had a phone by the bed to get up and get us if needed.
in Austria the Youth Protection Acts are state laws but like in the US they agreed to unify some regulations (like acquisition and consumption of alcohol or tobaco products). But they're still state competence. Fun fact, 10-15 years ago, you were allowed to buy and drink in public any kind of alcohol at the age of 14(!) in Vienna. But most stores/bars/companies still had their private policies about sharing alcohol (16/18 e.g.), which is why no one knew about this official and low age limit.
German here. My experience growing up was that there was a stark correlation between drinking habits and sports club membership. The hockey boys were particularly crazy in drinking.
Same here, I was at Uni in England in the 90's and was shocked that it was the hockey club who drinks more than the football of Rugby club. Myself was in the athletics club, and during our initiation half the people were not even drinking alcohol and no one actually got drunk. It was such a difference from the other sporting clubs when most of the members were blackout drunk on their initiation.