The World Health Organisation report, released last week, interviewed 11-,13- and 15-year-olds in 35 countries.
In England, a third of boys and one in four girls aged 13 drank alcohol every week, as did more than half of all 15-year-olds in Wales, the highest in both categories.
Eleven-year-olds fared little better - six per cent of girls and 11 per cent of boys in England, and marginally fewer in Wales, reported they had been drunk at least twice, the highest and second highest figures respectively.
Rankin Barr, manager of Lincolnshire Drug and Alcohol Action Team, which runs a youth service for under-19s, said that although the Healthy Schools initiative was showing signs of success, a more holistic approach involving police, parents and teachers was needed to ensure that alcohol misuse was targeted from all sides. This would ensure that licensing laws were being enforced alongside attempts to prevent the problem.
"If we don't have a more joined-up approach misuse will continue. We need trading standards, police and drug and alcohol teams to work together so we're hitting schools, parents, and venues where people purchase alcohol.
"We need to look at all aspects - not just focus on children but how they get it, who has influence on them and who can change their behaviour."
He said parents and teachers, as well as children needed to understand that alcohol misuse led to teenage pregnancies, drugs, violence, and criminal behaviour.
The report highlighted that English 15-year-olds had the second highest rate of sexual intercourse, with Wales and Scotland in fourth and fifth place. UK rates of condom use were also among the lowest.
Cannabis use was also high. A third of English 15-year-olds said they had used the drug within the past 12 months, and seven per cent described themselves as heavy users.
Scottish children came second top of the sweet-tooth rankings. Just under half of all age groups drank soft drinks every day, and the same proportion of Scottish 11- and 13-year-olds ate sweets every day.
www.euro.who.int/eprise/main/who/informationsources/publications/ catalogue/20040518_1.
