In this issue of Drug and Alcohol Review, in a section entitled ‘Alcohol trends and policies in the wider world – beyond a Eurocentric view’, four overview papers are presented [1-4], which describe regional trends in alcohol use, attributable harm and policy. These papers are part of an effort to expand the base of epidemiological data and policy experience beyond the high‐income countries so that other areas of the world are represented. The review articles were commissioned for the third edition of Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity [5], a multi‐authored volume written by an international group of alcohol researchers to provide a comprehensive review of the scientific literature relevant to alcohol policy at the local, national and international levels. This editorial summarises common themes and lessons learned from these papers, together with a similar paper on Southeast Asian countries [6], and some insights from analyses of alcohol use in China that, while not represented in this journal, provides an illustrative example. A related set of commissioned papers, dealing with theoretical [7], epidemiological [8] and alcohol marketing issues [9], is being published simultaneously in another journal.

What are the commonalities and differences between countries and regions in their experiences with respect to alcohol use and attributable harm? And how can we explain some of these phenomena? A classic theory on alcohol use and attributable harm, based on economics, predicts that, as a non‐essential good, more alcohol would be purchased and consumed once there was enough wealth for a population to afford to do so. Thus, when countries transition from low‐income to lower‐middle income and upper‐middle income status, the level of alcohol use is expected to increase [10, 11].