Regarding addiction, an estimated 63 million people worldwide were dependent on alcohol in 2015, with about 843 cases of alcohol dependence per 100,000 people. For comparison, about 20 million people were dependent on marijuana (260 cases per 100,000 people) and 17 million were dependent on opioids (220 cases per 100,000 people) in 2015.
However, the rates of marijuana and opioid dependence were almost threefold higher in the United States and Canada (a region called “high-income North America” in the report) than in the rest of the world, with an estimated 749 cases of marijuana dependence and 650 cases of opioid dependence per 100,000 people.