in finland medically certified absences were higher among lifetime abstainers former and heavy drinkers compared with light drinkers vahtera et al a review of studies from different countries observed a substantial economic burden of alcohol on society thavomcharoensap et al in the united kingdom nearly million working days were lost by alcoholdependent workers in and the total cost of absenteeism due to alcohol was estimated to be billion uk cabinet office in the european union alcohol accounted for an estimated billion worth of potential lost production through absenteeism unemployment and lost working years through premature death in anderson and baumberg potential production losses were found to be an important part of alcoholrelated costs in scotland france and canada rehm et al in particular in the united states lost productivity represented of the total economic cost of excessive drinking