More than half of 13-year-olds, and a third of 11-year-olds, have drunk alcohol in England, according to a World Health Organisation (WHO) study.
The Financial Times reports that England had the highest rates of alcohol consumption among school children.
The study, one of the largest of its kind by the WHO, covered data from 2021-22 on 280 000 children aged 11, 13 and 15 from 44 countries.
The study found that across the UK, 13- and 15-year-old girls were more likely to be drinking, smoking and vaping than boys of the same age. Forty per cent of girls in England and Scotland had vaped before the age of 15, and did so at a higher rate than countries such as France and Germany.
Dr Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, warned that alcohol consumption among young people had been normalised around the world and posed ‘a serious public health threat’.
Dr Jo Inchley, international coordinator for the study from the University of Glasgow, said the results were ‘concerning’, as they showed that the UK had one of the worst rates of underage drinking and smoking in the world.