A new study has found that, in the past decade, drunkenness has become less common in Ireland and other Western countries and among boys, and more common in Eastern Europe and among girls.

Swiss-led researchers studied trends in teen drunken-ness by analysing survey data from 77,586 15-year-olds in seven Eastern European and 16 Western countries. The frequency at which teens got drunk was assessed by gender and country and tracked over time using survey data collected in 1997/1998 and 2005/2006.

Fifteen-year-olds had been drunk an average of two to three times. Across all seven Eastern European countries, the average frequency of drunkenness increased about 40 per cent over the ten-year study period.