Female alcohol abuse fast becoming new 'global epidemic'

In much of the developed world, alcohol abuse is rising, and in many cases female drinkers have been found to drive that growth.

The richer the country is directly proportional to the fewer abstainers and the smaller is the gap that is between male and female consumption, the New York Post reported.

Pre-eminent American alcohol researcher Sharon Wilsnack, of the University of North Dakota, believes that the world is witnessing a 'global epidemic' in women's drinking.

In 2011, Katherine Keyes, an assistant professor at Columbia University, reviewed 31 international studies of birth-cohort and gender differences in alcohol consumption and mortality, and found that those born after the WWII are likelier to binge drink and develop alcohol-use disorders.