The highest consumption levels continue to be found in the developed world, the report states, noting in particular in the WHO European Region (including countries like Austria, Germany, Russia and the UK) and the WHO Region of the Americas (including all of the countries in North, Central and South America).

The countries that consume the most of it, per the WHO's 2014 report, vary widely. Their habits can be attributed to a number of factors, including sociodemographic, rates of abstention, level of economic development, culture (i.e., if a country is overwhelmingly Muslim) and the preferred beverage types (vodka versus, say, sangria).

The report states that "intermediate levels of consumption" are found in the WHO Western Pacific Region, which stretches from China in the north and west to New Zealand in the south and French Polynesia in the east, and the WHO African Region, which includes the majority of central and southern Africa.

Binge-drinking – or heavy episodic drinking - is the form of #alcohol use that is most harmful to health #BeResponsible

— WHO (@WHO) May 12, 2014

The lowest consumption levels are found in the WHO South-East Asia Region and particularly in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. Countries there include Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Syria.

The report detailed alcohol consumption in its nearly 200 member states. More than three million people died in 2012 as a result of harmful use of alcohol, the report states, highlighting how alcohol consumption increases the risk of developing more than 200 diseases, including liver cirrhosis and some cancers.

“More needs to be done to protect populations from the negative health consequences of alcohol consumption,” Dr. Oleg Chestnov, WHO Assistant Director-General for Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, said in an announcement that accompanied the report. “The report clearly shows that there is no room for complacency when it comes to reducing the harmful use of alcohol.”