Social effects of alcohol consumption recently gained more attention and were termed ‘alcohol-related harm to others’. At the same time, efforts to quantify its impact on society were increased. However, survey data seem to be an inadequate tool to measure alcohol-related harm from other’s drinking and the reported figures can be questioned for several reasons. Instead of prolonging these attempts to estimate the ‘real amount’ of harm, more research on how alcohol affects social life may help to gain a better understanding of feasible interventions.