Alcohol and cancer

26 November 2025

Key facts

  • Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the WHO European Region, where cancer cases and deaths are on the rise.
  • While cancer is a complex disease, environmental and behavioural factors – including radiation, pollutants, diet, alcohol and tobacco – are estimated to account for around 50% of the global cancer burden.
  • Ongoing research suggests these environmental and behavioural factors may also contribute to many of those cancers whose causes are still being uncovered.
  • The WHO European Region has the highest level of alcohol consumption globally. In 2022, the average adult in the WHO European Region drank the equivalent of 9.1 litres of pure alcohol, the highest regional average in the world.
  • There is no safe level of alcohol consumption in relation to cancer risk. Drinking even small amounts of alcohol increases the risk of most alcohol-related cancers.
  • In 2019, approximately 800 000 people died because of alcohol in the WHO European Region. Almost 1 out of every 6 alcohol-attributable deaths in the Region was due to cancer.
  • In 2020, 4% of all cancer cases in the Region were attributable to alcohol. Thus, a total of about 186 000 cases of cancer (almost 60 000 cases in women and more than 126 000 cases in men) were caused by alcohol. In the same year, alcohol consumption contributed to more than 93 000 cancer deaths.
  • Most cancers caused by alcohol in 2020 were of the colorectum (60 200 cases), female breast (39 200 cases) and oral cavity (22 600 cases).
  • Across the WHO European Region, there is wide variation in the proportion of cancer cases attributable to alcohol. In 2020, alcohol was estimated to be responsible for less than 1 in every 100 cases in countries such as Israel and Türkiye, and more than 1 in every 16 cases in Belarus, Romania and the Republic of Moldova. These differences are likely due to different levels of alcohol consumption as well as interactions with other risk factors (such as tobacco).
  • The economic cost of premature deaths from alcohol-attributable cancer in 2018 was estimated to be €4.58 billion in the European Union (EU), accounting for 9% of the total cost of premature deaths from cancer.

Overview

The link between alcohol and cancer has been firmly established since 1988, when the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified alcohol as a Group 1 carcinogen. Alcohol causes at least 7 types of cancer, affecting the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus, breast (in women), liver and colorectum. Any alcoholic beverage can cause cancer because both ethanol and acetaldehyde, a byproduct created when ethanol is metabolized in the body, are carcinogenic. There are many ways in which alcohol can cause cancer, including through DNA damage, oxidative stress, hormonal changes and gut microbiome changes. Cessation or reduction of alcohol consumption reduces the risk of developing cancer.

Even small amounts of alcohol increase the risk of cancer

  • The more alcohol you drink the higher the risk. However, how much and how fast the risk from drinking alcohol increases differs by cancer type.
  • Alcohol consumption, even at relatively low levels, can cause female breast cancer. In 2020, almost a third of breast cancers caused by alcohol in the WHO European Region resulted from drinking no more than 1–2 alcoholic beverages per day.

Lack of awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer

  • While most people in the WHO European Region correctly identify tobacco smoking as a risk factor for cancer, awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer is much lower, with less than half of Europeans naming alcohol as a risk factor for developing cancer.
  • Awareness differs by cancer type and is particularly low for breast cancer: only 10–20% of people asked about the causes of female breast cancer named alcohol consumption as a cause, while 40% of respondents correctly linked liver cancer to drinking alcohol.

WHO response

WHO is addressing alcohol-attributable cancer and harm by supporting countries in reducing alcohol consumption and increasing public awareness of its health risks.

Since alcohol-attributable cancers can be prevented by reducing overall drinking levels, WHO promotes the most effective, evidence-based strategies to reduce consumption at both population and individual levels. These include raising taxes on alcoholic beverages, reducing their availability and restricting or banning alcohol advertising.

At the individual level, WHO advocates for greater access to screening and brief intervention and treatment for people with alcohol use disorder, as well as advancing and enforcing drink-driving countermeasures.

Increasing consumer awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer is also a priority, which is why WHO endorses alcohol labelling as a policy option to reduce alcohol-related harm. This can involve providing information on packaging about alcohol content, ingredients, nutritional information and health warnings.

Through the WHO-EU Evidence into Action Alcohol project (EVID-ACTION), co-funded by the EU and set to operate from 2022 to 2026, WHO is supporting 30 countries – EU Member States, Iceland, Norway and Ukraine – in implementing alcohol policies and raising awareness of alcohol-related harm, in line with Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.