Survey finds nearly half of Hungarians abstain from drinking

A total of 44 percent of Hungarians never drink alcohol as against the European average of 30 percent, a survey on alcohol consumption carried out in 16 European countries and the U.S. by GfK market research company shows, MTI was told on Thursday.

Most Hungarians who said they completely refrained from alcohol stated that the reason was the high cost of drinks. Others said they were concerned about its bad effects on health and some said they were abstained from alcohol because they did not want their personal relations to deteriorate.

A total of 45 percent of Hungarians said they had alcohol only once a week or less.

As many as 59 percent of women and 28 percent of men said they were teetotal. Contrary to international trends, mostly young Hungarians said they were not drinking any alcohol.

According to GfK researchers, the Hungarians surveyed probably wanted to make a good impression by stating that they were teetotal or only casual drinkers.

A total of 45 percent of drinkers claimed preferring beer to wine, while 35 percent opted for wine.

One-third of Hungarians said alcohol made them feel funny, 28 percent said they became more friendly and one-fifth said they felt tired after consuming alcohol.

GfK Custom Research surveyed a total of 17,343 respondents aged 14 or over on behalf of the Wall Street Journal Europe in the autumn of 2008.

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