ABSTRACT
German wines and beers enjoy a high reputation on the international export market and are of some fiscal importance to the State. Within the Ministry of Health there has also been set up an information centre given the responsibility of producing material of educational value concerning alcohol consumption and alcohol problems. Overall, however, the free enterprise system and free market forces govern alcohol production and distribution in West Germany. Beer remains the principal beverage alcohol consumed in West Germany, followed by spirits and then wine. Between 1960 and 1978, when per capita alcohol consumption in Germany increased by 58 per cent, liver cirrhosis deaths increased by 46 per cent. Reliable data on alcohol problems in West Germany have been hard to accumulate, though what are available suggest that most alcohol problems have increased in relation to per capita alcohol consumption changes.
