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Alcohol Units Calculator

Build a drink-by-drink list and count it in your own country's units, from the UK's 8 g to Japan's 20 g, against the guideline where it gives one, and estimate the time to sober.

Units on your list
0.0units

Nothing on the list yet. The guideline drawn below is 14 units a week — about 8 330 ml bottles of 5% beer, or 9 125 ml glasses of 12% wine.

Nought to 42 units — three times the weekly guideline, and the axis never rescales
You · 0.0
Under the guideline Above the guideline More than twice the guideline

No more than 14 units a week for men and women, spread over 3 or more days. It is not a safe level — it is the line under which the risk is called low.

United Kingdom: one unit

8 g of pure alcohol · 10 ml of pure alcohol

About 200 ml of 5% beer, 85 ml of 12% wine or 25 ml of 40% spirits.

No more than 14 units a week for men and women, spread over 3 or more days.

Source: NHS, read 2026-09-24.

Grams of pure alcohol 0 The common ground: every country's unit is a slice of it.
UK units 0.0 10 ml, or 8 g, of pure alcohol each.
US standard drinks 0.0 14 g of pure alcohol each — a bigger drink, so a smaller number.

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Beer & cider

Serving sizes (United Kingdom): NHS.

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If you drank all of it in one sitting

A week's list is not a night. This only makes sense for the drinks that landed together.

Measured in
Biological sex
This picks the Widmark r factor — 0.68 for men, 0.55 for women — because alcohol spreads through body water and the proportion of it differs.
Back to nought in 0h 0m At the average elimination rate this tool assumes, about 0.015% BAC an hour. Nothing speeds it up.
Which is roughly Now On your device’s clock, from the last drink. Individual rates differ, so treat it as the earliest rather than the answer.

Standard drinks and guidelines by country

Each figure is the country's own, from its health authority, read on the date shown. Where an authority has withdrawn its number, the table says so rather than keeping the old one.

Country One standard drink Guideline Source
United Kingdom 8 g (10 ml)unit No more than 14 units a week for men and women, spread over 3 or more days. NHSread 2026-09-24
United States 14 gstandard drink No number since January 2026: the Dietary Guidelines say only to drink less for better health. Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025–2030 NIAAAread 2026-09-24
Ireland 10 gstandard drink Up to 11 standard drinks a week for women and 17 for men, and no more than 6 on any one occasion. HSEread 2026-09-24
Australia 10 gstandard drink No more than 10 standard drinks a week and no more than 4 on any one day, for men and women. Healthdirect Australiaread 2026-09-24
Canada 13.45 g (17.05 ml)standard drink One or 2 standard drinks a week is low risk, the same for everyone; more than 2 on one occasion raises the risk. Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction Health Canadaread 2026-09-24
Germany 10–12 gStandardglas No number since September 2024: the federal health institute says the less you drink, the better. BIÖG — Alkohol? Kenn dein Limit.read 2026-09-24
France 10 gstandard glass No more than 10 standard glasses a week and 2 a day, with at least 2 alcohol-free days a week. Santé publique France — Alcool Info Serviceread 2026-09-24
Spain 10 gstandard drink unit Low risk is up to 2 a day for men (20 g) and 1 a day for women (10 g). Ministerio de Sanidadread 2026-09-24
Italy 12 galcohol unit No more than 2 units a day for men, 1 for women and 1 for anyone over 65. Istituto Superiore di Sanità (EpiCentro)read 2026-09-24
Portugal 10 gstandard drink No more than 2 standard drinks a day for men aged 18 to 64, 1 after 65, and 1 for women of any age. Direção-Geral da Saúderead 2026-09-24
Brazil 10 g (12.5 ml)standard dose No safe amount: the Ministry of Health advises avoiding alcohol altogether. Ministério da Saúderead 2026-09-24
Netherlands 10 g (12 ml)standard glass No number since June 2026: the Health Council says not drinking is healthier and safer. Trimbos-instituut unit definitionread 2026-09-24
Norway 12.8 g (15 ml)alcohol unit No more than 10 g of alcohol a day for women and 20 g for men. Helsedirektoratet unit definitionread 2026-09-24
Sweden 12 gstandard glass Risky drinking starts at 10 standard glasses a week, or 4 on one occasion once a month or more, for men and women alike. Socialstyrelsen Folkhälsomyndighetenread 2026-09-24
Poland 10 gstandard portion Low risk is up to 14 portions a week (2 a day) for women and 28 (4 a day) for men, with at least 2 alcohol-free days a week. KCPUread 2026-09-24
Japan 20 ggō of sake Moderate drinking is about 20 g of alcohol a day on average; 40 g a day for men or 20 g for women raises the risk of lifestyle diseases. 厚生労働省 厚生労働省 (健康日本21)read 2026-09-24
South Korea 8 gsoju cup Up to 40 g (5 soju cups) for men and 20 g (2.5 cups) for women on one occasion, no more than once a week. The Ministry of Health has also defined a standard drink as 7 g. 한국건강증진개발원 (KHEPI)read 2026-09-24
Denmark 12 gstandard drink No more than 10 standard drinks a week and no more than 4 on any one day, for men and women alike. Sundhedsstyrelsenread 2026-09-24
Finland 12 gstandard drink Moderate risk starts at 7 standard drinks a week for women and 14 for men. Up to 1 a day for women and 2 for men is unlikely to harm a healthy adult of working age. Käypä hoito (Duodecim) — Alkoholiongelmatread 2026-09-24
Czechia 20 gstandard drink No more than 1 drink a day (about 20 g) for most women and older people, and 2 (about 40 g) for most men. Official Czech sources also put a standard drink anywhere from 10 to 20 g. Národní monitorovací středisko pro drogy a závislosti / Ministerstvo zdravotnictví — Alkohol škodíread 2026-09-24
Russia 10 g (12 ml)standard portion Low risk is up to 10 portions a week (2 a day) for women and 15 (3 a day) for men, with at least 2 alcohol-free days a week. Минздрав России — методические рекомендации по диспансеризации (27.12.2017), прил. 28read 2026-09-25
Ukraine 10 gstandard drink No low-risk limit of its own: the Ministry of Health's Public Health Center says no level of drinking is safe. Центр громадського здоров'я МОЗ Україниread 2026-09-25
Vietnam 10 galcohol unit No more than 2 units a day for men and 1 for women, on no more than 5 days a week. Cục Y tế dự phòng – Bộ Y tế (Báo Sức khỏe & Đời sống)read 2026-09-25

How this is calculated

UK units are calculated as volume in litres × ABV as a percentage (a 750 ml bottle of 12% wine is 0.75 × 12 = 9 units, and one unit is 10 ml / 8 g of pure alcohol). Every other country's count is the same grams of pure alcohol divided by that country's own standard drink, as its health authority defines it: 14 g in the US, 10 g in Ireland, France or Spain, 12 g in Italy or Sweden. The country table names each source and the date it was read. Daily guidelines are drawn on the weekly bar as seven days of the daily figure.

Sources

Our editorial policy explains how these tools and articles are researched and kept up to date.

What Is an Alcohol Unit?

An alcohol unit is a way to measure the actual amount of pure alcohol in a drink. Different countries define a “standard drink” differently:

  • UK: 1 unit = 10 ml (8 g) of pure alcohol. A pint of 4% lager is about 2.3 units.
  • US: 1 standard drink = 0.6 fl oz (14 g) of pure alcohol — roughly 1.75 UK units.
  • Australia: 1 standard drink = 10 g of pure alcohol — roughly 1.25 UK units.

The numbers on the label don’t tell the full story. A “single glass of wine” can range from 1.5 to 3.5 units depending on the pour size and ABV.

The 14-Unit Guideline

The UK Chief Medical Officers recommend that both men and women drink no more than 14 units per week to keep health risks low. This is equivalent to roughly 6 pints of 4% beer or 6 medium glasses of 13% wine spread across the week.

The guideline isn’t a “safe” level — the risk of conditions like liver disease, cancer, and heart disease increases with any amount of regular drinking. Fourteen units is the level below which the risk is considered low.

How to Calculate Units Yourself

The formula is straightforward:

Units = (Volume in ml × ABV%) ÷ 1,000

For example, a 175 ml glass of 13% wine:

(175 × 13) / 1000 = 2.275 units — about 2.3 units.

Or a pint (568 ml) of 5.2% strong lager:

(568 × 5.2) / 1000 = 2.95 units — about 3.0 units.

Knowing your units lets you track your intake accurately and make informed decisions about your relationship with alcohol.

Asked and answered

Frequently Asked Questions

What is one unit of alcohol?
It depends on the country. One UK unit is 10 ml, or 8 g, of pure alcohol. A US standard drink is 14 g, Ireland, Australia, France, Spain and Poland count 10 g, Italy and Sweden 12 g, and Japan measures in gō of sake at about 20 g. The table on this page lists each country with its source.
How many glasses of wine is 14 units?
14 UK units is 112 g of pure alcohol: about six 175 ml glasses of 13% wine, nine 125 ml glasses of 12% wine, or six pints of 4% lager. Spread over a week, that is the UK low-risk guideline for men and women.
How many units are in a 125 ml glass of wine?
At 12%, a 125 ml glass holds 1.5 UK units, which is 12 g of pure alcohol: one Italian unità alcolica, 1.2 French or Irish standard drinks, and a little under one US standard drink. At 13% it is 1.6 units.
How many units a week is low risk?
The UK says no more than 14 units a week for men and women, spread over three or more days. Other countries set their own lines, and the US, Germany and the Netherlands no longer give a number at all. No amount of alcohol is completely free of risk.
How do I calculate units myself?
UK units = (volume in ml × ABV%) ÷ 1000. For example: 330ml beer at 5% = (330 × 5) ÷ 1000 = 1.65 units. Multiply UK units by 8 for grams of pure alcohol, then divide by your own country's standard drink.

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