Binge-drinking rates in Europe have decreased, reducing mortality from alcohol, according to a new analysis.
But overall there have been no significant changes in alcohol consumption, raising concern about the continued impact of excessive drinking, according to the World Health Organisation report.
WHO experts said that overall Europe had failed to meet its targets for reducing alcohol-related mortality.
The report, covering 28 EU countries together with Norway and Switzerland, says that alcohol is responsible for 291,000 deaths a year and accounts for 25% of deaths among adults in their early 20s.
WHO warns that the heaviest toll from alcohol comes from cancer, which was responsible for nearly a third of the deaths.
It says that the main achievement is the reduction in rates of heavy episodic drinking.
Dr Carina Ferreira-Borges, from WHO, said: “It is not acceptable to see that eight years into the UN targets – and 26 years since the first European Alcohol Action Plan, alcohol is still responsible for about 291,000 deaths in Europe, representing, among young adults (20-24), one in every fourth dead.”
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