The World Health Organization (WHO) has highlighted the alcohol monopolies in Finland and other Nordic countries as an effective way to reduce alcohol consumption and its associated harms.
In a press release, the WHO stated that alcohol monopolies in Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark's autonomous Faroe Islands have "have contributed to relatively low alcohol consumption and reduced alcohol-related harm".
The release noted that Nordic countries were "historically known for harmful drinking patterns and high levels of associated harm".
It added that monopolies — like Finland's Alko chain of alcohol outlets — were operating with a "clear mission to protect public health over profit", as drinks with higher alcohol content are limited to those outlets.
"With limits on outlet numbers and sale hours and days, strict enforcement of age controls, and no marketing or discount pricing, these monopolies emphasise managing alcohol as a product with inherent risks, rather than treating it as an ordinary consumer product," WHO's release read.
Reform pressures
However, the international health agency also noted that several Nordic countries were shifting towards the privatisation of booze sales, "which could undo decades of public health gains".
According to Carina Ferreira-Borges, WHO's European regional advisor for alcohol, illicit drugs and prison health, the controls provided by state monopoly arrangements "significantly affects alcohol sales".
"Government monopolies on off-premises retail sales have been shown to reduce alcohol consumption, while privatising alcohol sales tends to increase consumption," he said.
The agency said that liberalisation by Finland and Sweden in the 1960s allowing lower-alcohol drinks to be sold in grocery stores "historically resulted in increased consumption and associated problems" in those countries.
WHO recommended that governments in Nordic countries should "prioritise health over profits", and avoid further privatisation of alcohol sales.
"WHO/Europe emphasises that expanding alcohol availability could reverse the positive public health indicators that Nordic countries have achieved over decades of controlled alcohol sales," Ferreira-Borges stated in the release.
Finland's alcohol reforms
In early summer of last year, grocery stores and other shops in Finland were permitted to sell alcoholic beverages containing up to eight percent alcohol — if the drinks were made through fermentation.
A little more than half a year later, Alko reported a significant dip in sales, while sales at the monopoly were also down in April of last year, before the most recent alcohol reform.
In June, the Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) reported that Finland's alcohol consumption had continued to decline in 2023.
Despite years of decreased drinking, a report by the Finnish Consulting Group in 2022 said that alcohol was the biggest cause of preventable deaths in 15 wellbeing counties across the country.
Before the latest reform, non-Alko shops could only sell drinks with an alcohol content of 5.5 percent — and before earlier reforms rolled out in 2018, the shops' limit was 4.7 percent.
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