It's a culture thing

Recent research, summarized in this Irish Times Online article, showed some interesting statistics about rates of binge drinking among students world wide:

"The analysis of the alcohol drinking habits of 17,738 students, aged 17 to 30, found 33% of English and 27% of American women were heavy drinkers. In comparison, only 3% of females from Germany, Italy, South Africa and 4% of Greek women drank heavily. "

"Almost half (49%) of Irish men said they had drunk heavily in the past two weeks. In America, 43% of men were classified as heavy drinkers with 26% of Englishmen falling into that category. Heavy drinking was infrequent among male students from Germany (2%), Greece (4%) and Italy (6%)."

Drinking age in Germany? 16. In Italy? 16. In Greece? 18. In South Africa? 18. The US, alone among nations studied with a drinking age of 21, had some of the highest rates of heavy drinking among students.