There must be multiple social and environmental factors that have contributed to Italy being hit so hard (age of population, high rates of smoking and high levels of air pollution have also been suggested), but that could well be one of them.

If you’re gonna pull a statistic out of a shadowy place, at least explain its link to the question.

(For the record South Koreans drink twice as much alcohol as Italians)

https://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/global_alco...