One in four deaths in European men aged between 15 and 29 is due to alcohol abuse and 55,000 young Europeans died from alcohol-related diseases in 1999, World Health Organisation (WHO) data has revealed.
The data, to be released today, will also show Irish teenagers are among the worst binge-drinkers in Europe although drug abuse dropped sharply in Ireland in 1999.
Binge-drinking also rose sharply in Britain, Denmark, and Poland, the study said.
The Minister for Health Mr Martin is in the Swedish capital Stockholm today where details of the "European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs" (ESPAD) will be presented to a conference of health ministers and young people form 51 European countries.
The survey found illicit drug use rose in almost all the 30 European countries surveyed but fell in Britain and Ireland.
But Britons remained Europe's worst teenage drug-users with 36 per cent of 15- and 16-year-old girls having dabbled in one drug or other by 1999. That compares to 42 per cent in 1995.
Irish drug-use also dropped to 32 per cent in 1999 from 37 per cent while the Czech Republic overtook Ireland, moving into second place as its proportion of children who had tried drugs rose to 35 per cent from 23 per cent.
The issue of alcohol advertising is likely to be a major feature in discussion about how to address the problem.
Last week Mr Martin launched an alcohol awareness campaign saying we must "stop kidding ourselves" about the issue.
additional reporting:
