Welcome to ESPAD

European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD): 30 years

On 20 May 2025, the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) will publish a brief report with the main findings from the 2024 European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD). The report will appear on the EUDA website, and a direct link will be placed on the ESPAD home page. 

The interactive ESPAD data platform, managed by the Institute of Clinical Physiology of Italy’s National Research Council, will be updated on the same day with the new 2024 data set.

Today, the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) is launching a new data explorer tool, allowing access to over 20 years of ESPAD data on substance use among 15-16-year-old students. ESPAD is the largest cross-national research project on adolescent substance use in the world, bringing together independent research teams in over 40 European countries. Developed by the National Research Council of Italy (CNR), the new tool holds data collected between 1995 and 2019.

Smoking and drinking among 15–16-year-old school students are showing signs of decline, but there are concerns over potentially risky cannabis use and the challenges posed by new addictive behaviours. These are among the findings released today in a new report from the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD). The study, published in collaboration with the EU drugs agency (EMCDDA), is based on a 2019 survey in 35 European countries, including 25 EU Member States (1).

News release: Upcoming data on substance use and risk behaviours among school students across Europe