The total estimated costs of alcohol abuse, constructed from estimates of numerous smaller categories, group into two main kinds of cost: the health care costs of alcohol abuse and productivity losses. Estimates for 1998 placed the health care costs of alcohol abuse at $26.3 billion (comprising 14.3 percent of the total estimated cost of alcohol abuse). These estimates include both the costs of treating alcohol abuse and dependence ($7.5 billion), and the costs of treating the various adverse medical consequences of alcohol consumption ($18.9 billion). Productivity losses, estimated at $134.2 billion (72.7 percent of the total) in 1998, includes losses from alcohol-related illness ($87.6 billion), premature death ($36.5 billion), and crime ($10.1 billion). Other factors contributing to the total estimated costs of alcohol abuse include insurance and legal costs ($15.7 billion) and the legal, property, and administrative costs of alcohol-related crime ($6.3 billion).
