A shocking 77% of people don't know how many units in a glass of wine, according to new government research. Find out exactly how many alcohol units are in your favourite drink.

It’s common knowledge that a glass of wine is one unit of alcohol – but is it really? A small glass of wine contains about one unit of alcohol – but most wine glasses, and certainly those you’ll get in a bar, contain at least double that amount – plus most wines have a higher alcohol content, which pushes up the standard glass of wine to about 3 units – the legal limit for women!

Now, to help people find out more about how much alcohol they are really drinking, the government is launching a new 'Units' campaign which aims to tell drinkers how many units are in their drinks and help them stick to their limits.

The Know Your Limits campaign - the biggest alcohol awareness campaign to date - has a budget of £6 million for the next 2 years and will be followed by a £4 million binge-drinking campaign from the Home Office next month.

The units campaign uses iconic imagery to help people understand how many units are in typical alcoholic drinks, and how to stay within the recommended daily guidelines for regular drinking of 2-3 units a day for women, and 3-4 units a day for men. The campaign will also warn people about how regularly drinking too much can damage their health.

The survey reveals that English drinkers don't know exactly how much they are drinking. More than four out of five (82 per cent) claim to know what a unit of alcohol is, yet 77 per cent don't know how many units are in a typical glass of wine.

More than half (55 per cent) of those questioned thought a large glass of wine (ABV 12 per cent) would contain two units, when it actually contains three. More than a third (35 per cent) did not know that an average pint of beer (ABV 4 per cent) contains two units, while nearly three out of five (58 per cent) did not know a double gin and tonic also contains two units.

“Glass sizes have grown larger and the strength of many wines and beers has increased, so it's no wonder some of us have lost track of our alcohol consumption,” said Public Health Minister, Dawn Primarolo. "Excessive alcohol consumption is proven to play a significant role in the development of numerous diseases, including several cancers, heart disease and stroke. That's why this campaign is so important to the public's health."

The survey showed that while most women (64 per cent) knew that their recommended daily guidelines are 2-3 units, just half of the men surveyed knew that they should stick to 3-4 units a day.

Unit awareness also appears to get worse with age: 32 per cent of drinkers aged 18-24 correctly said that a large glass of 12 per cent ABV wine contains three units, compared to just 18 per cent of drinkers over 55. And 69 per cent of drinkers aged 18-24 correctly stated that a pint of 4 per cent ABV beer contains two units, compared to 57 per cent of drinkers over 55.

The poll revealed that more than half (52 per cent) of adult drinkers in England drink alcohol at least two to three times a week, and one in ten drinks every day.

One drink does not equal one alcohol unit – some drinks contain far more alcohol than you think. But sticking to the right number of units for you is crucial to prevent accidents and major health risks. To find out how many units of alcohol are lurking in your favourite tipple, Click Here.