Actions to prevent underage drinking

Report presents latest data on underage drinking and calls for robust partnerships among private and public sectors and communities to further reduce underage drinking.

In recent years, and in response to direct asks of our sector within the 2018 United Nations Political Declaration on noncommunicable diseases, IARD members have taken further concrete steps to accelerate and support declines in underage drinking including: 

• Introducing symbols or written age-restriction reminders on their alcohol brands – including no-alcohol extensions of these brands – to send a clear message that minors should not consume alcohol.
• Putting in place five key safeguards on their online marketing channels aimed at ensuring that their marketing is only directed at those adults who can lawfully buy their products. Safeguards are being strengthened through global partnerships with the leading digital platforms including Meta and Google. 
• Establishing and embedding the first ever industry-wide global standards aimed at enhancing transparency and preventing influencer marketing reaching those under the legal purchase age. 
• Working alongside prominent global and regional online retailers, and e-commerce and delivery platforms to develop standards to help prevent online orders reaching those underage. 

IARD's new report, Actions to Prevent Underage Drinking, presents more details about these collective actions, alongside examples of actions taken by companies at a local level. The report also sets out the latest available data on underage drinking, which has fallen or stayed the same in three-quarters of the 65 countries where national data are available. Although it is positive to see these downward trends, there is still much work to be done to accelerate and expand them to make them universal. Actions to prevent underage drinking calls for robust partnerships among private and public sectors and communities to further reduce underage drinking.