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Want to check how many units you’re drinking? Use our unit calculator to work out your average weekly consumption.

Understanding the amount of alcohol in your drink is a really useful way to keep track of your alcohol consumption.

Check your units

Video: What are alcohol units?

Do you find it hard to understand alcohol units and get a clear idea of how many units of alcohol you're having each week? Watch this video from Susan Laurie, Training Manager at Alcohol Change UK, to find out what an alcohol unit is and how you can prevent them from stacking up.

Measuring units

Units provide a simple way for us to calculate the quantity of pure alcohol in a drink using its strength and size.

One unit equals 10ml or 8g of pure alcohol. You can work out how much alcohol is in your drink - based on its strength and size - by using the following equation:

• strength (alcohol by volume or ABV) x the volume of the drink (in millilitres) ÷ 1,000 = the total number of units in your drink

So to find the number of units in a pint of 4% ABV beer, calculate:

• 4 (ABV%) x 568 (ml) ÷ 1,000 = 2.3 units

or

For a medium-sized glass of 13% ABV wine calculate:

• 13 (ABV%) x 175 (ml) ÷ 1,000 = 2.3 units

To make things a little quicker, use our unit calculator or check the table below:

Units table for some of the more popular drinks

Type of drink	Number of alcohol units
Pint of lower-strength lager/beer/cider (568ml, ABV 3.6%)	2 units
Pint of ordinary-strength lager/beer/cider (568ml, ABV 4%)	2.3 units
Pint of higher-strength lager/beer/cider (568ml, ABV 5.2%)	3 units
Bottle of lager/beer/cider (330ml, ABV 5%)	1.7 units
Can of lager/beer/cider (500ml, ABV 5.5%)	2.8 units
Small glass of wine (125ml, ABV 13%)	1.6 units
Standard glass of wine (175ml, ABV 13%)	2.3 units
Large glass of wine (250ml, ABV 13%)	3.3 units
Alcopop (275ml, ABV 4.5%)	1.2 units
Single shot of spirits (25ml, ABV 40%)	1 unit
Double shot of spirits (50ml, ABV 40%)	2 units

Drinking guidelines

The UK’s Chief Medical Officers have published guidelines on the maximum amount of alcohol adults should drink across a week to keep health risks to a low level. You can read the low risk drinking guidelines on the government's website.

Download the free Try Dry® app whether you want to take on a challenge, cut down on your alcohol consumption or go totally alcohol-free.

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