These were the world's drunkest countries in 2021, according to a new study

Americans were among the heaviest drinkers in the world in early 2021, with participants reporting to being drunk a little under twice a month, or 23 times a year, a new international study has shown.

Among the 22 countries involved in the 2021 Global Drug Survey, the United States ranked No. 4 and respondents from Australia reported getting drunk more than any other country, with an average of 26 times a year, or about twice a month.

Denmark and Finland followed with an average of 23 incidents per year of getting drunk, nearly twice higher than the global average of 14.6 times per year.

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The study also looked at the number of days per year participants drank alcohol, where rankings changed significantly.

France took the top spot with 132 days of alcohol consumption per year, or around three drinks a week. New Zealand followed with 120 days, and the Netherlands with 112 days.

On average, respondents from the United States drank 83 days of the year, around two times a week. This was slightly lower than the global average of 101 drinks a year.

This may seem like a lot, but respondents in most countries got drunk about 30% less than last year, said the survey's CEO, Adam Winstock.

"I just think the longer the pandemic went on, the novelty of lunchtime drinking and getting drunk wore off, and then the reality just kind of stepped in," Winstock said. "I think most people realize they cope better without getting drunk or drinking all the time and using lots of drugs."

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The Global Drug Survey, which is based in London, was established in 2012. The 2021 version of the survey collected data from 32,022 people across 22 countries and was published in 11 languages. Data was collected between Dec. 2020 and March 2021 and collected data on the usage of alcohol, cannabis and other drugs internationally.

Cis men accounted for 62% of the global sample, while cis women accounted for 34%. People identifying as transgender, non-binary or intersex made up 3.5% of respondents. More than 60% of respondents were under the age of 34.

The data was collected exclusively from anonymous online users with rates of drug usage higher than the general population, according to the report.

Here's the top ten countries ranked by the number of times respondents from each country said they got drunk per year:

  1. Australia: 26.7

  2. Denmark: 23.8

  3. Finland: 23.8

  4. United States: 23.1

  5. United Kingdom: 22.5

  6. Canada: 22

  7. Ireland: 20

  8. France: 17.5

  9. Sweden: 16

  10. Netherlands: 15.7

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Do Americans drink the most? How US alcohol use ranks with countries