Legal age for buying drink in Scotland may rise to 21

Ministers are considering raising the minimum age from 18, as part of a long-term strategy for tackling the country's drink problem.

Shona Robison, the public health minister, is due to present a number of proposals later in the year.

People in Scotland are twice as likely to die from alcohol-related deaths than elsewhere in the UK.

Ms Robison yesterday said nothing had yet been ruled in or out of the government's attempt to curb problem drinking.

She added: "We all know that Scotland as a nation has a drink problem and the implications of this are very serious – not least for our health.

"The Scottish Government is currently in the process of developing a long-term alcohol strategy and as part of this we have been looking at a range of issues including availability, accessibility and age of purchase.

"At this stage, nothing has been ruled in and nothing has been ruled out and we will present our proposals later this year."

In most countries the legal age for buying alcohol is 18, but there are some countries – most notably the US – where those buying drink must be aged 21 or over.