Blood alcohol limits for driving in Europe, by country 2018

This statistic shows the permitted blood alcohol levels for driving road vehicles in European countries in 2018, in grams of alcohol per liter of blood. Malta and the United Kingdom (UK) have the highest limits by a margin of 0.3 grams of alcohol per liter of blood. These two countries have an alcohol limit of 0.8 grams of alcohol per liter of blood. However, the vast majority of countries have set their legal alcohol limits for drivers at 0.5 grams of alcohol per liter of blood. Five countries have more restrictive rules and set their legal limit at 0.0 grams of alcohol per liter of blood. These restrictive rules are applied in the Slovak Republic, Bulgaria, Czechia, Romania and Hungary.

Permitted blood alcohol levels for driving in Europe in 2018*, by country (in grams of alcohol in one liter of blood)

Characteristic	Blood alcohol limit (in grams of alcohol in one liter of blood)
United Kingdom	0.8
Malta	0.8
Denmark	0.5
Spain	0.5
Austria	0.5
Luxembourg	0.5
Switzerland	0.5
Slovenia	0.5
Italy	0.5
Turkey	0.5
Greece	0.5
Belgium	0.5
Germany	0.5
France	0.5
Latvia	0.5
Portugal	0.5
Netherlands	0.5
Republic of Ireland	0.5
Croatia	0.5
Cyprus	0.5
Lithuania	0.4
Serbia	0.3
Finland	0.22
Estonia	0.2
Sweden	0.2
Norway	0.2
Poland	0.2
Slovak Republic	0
Bulgaria	0
Czechia	0
Romania	0
Hungary	0

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Release date

October 2019

More information

Region

Europe

Survey time period

2018

Supplementary notes

* The source adds the following information: "In many countries, special (more restrictive) rules apply to novice (i.e. new, inexperienced) and professional drivers."

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