Teenage girls in the UK have for the first time overtaken boys in levels of binge drinking, according to figures released today which will deepen concern over growing evidence that women are drinking younger and increasingly to excess.

The UK results of an authoritative Europe-wide study of drinking, smoking and drug use among 15- and 16-year-olds - Britain's next generation of drinkers - show that 29% of girls questioned admitted at least one binge drinking experience within the previous month, compared with 25% of boys.

The figures, based on interviews with more than 2,000 pupils in a sample of schools in 2003, mean binge-drinking levels for boys have fallen significantly since the last study in 1999, while those among girls have continued to rise.

The statistics, from the latest European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Drugs (Espad), are being published by Martin Plant, professor of addiction studies at the University of the West of England, at an international conference on binge drinking in Bristol.

Prof Plant said it was "unprecedented" that bingeing among teenage girls had exceeded boys, both in terms of instances of drinking to excess and the quantity of alcohol drunk. Binge drinking is defined for both girls and boys under the Espad survey as consuming more than five units of alcohol in one sitting over the preceding 30 days.

"There is clearly a profound social change going on," he said. "We have not seen this kind of increasing trend among young women in opposition to men, ever. What we have now got is a different underlying trend for young women that has come on in the last six years, and it is quite clear and quite strong."

Government efforts to address Britain's drinking culture, which prompted Tony Blair to dub binge drinking "the new British disease", were completely inadequate, he said.

The Espad study, to be published next month and is expected to show the UK retaining its place at the top of Europe's alcohol league, comes amid growing concern over British drinking habits, and particularly the rise in alcohol consumption by young women.

The Living in Britain survey by the Office for National Statistics in March found young women aged 16 to 24 had doubled consumption in the 10 years to 2002, while boy's intake was on a downward trend.

It found that women were bingeing increasingly, as men did so less often, but in contrast to the Espad study - which deals with the youngest end of the spectrum - the ONS survey found that male binge drinking still exceeded that of women. The government defines bingeing as drinking more than double the recommended maximum daily intake, which for men means consuming more than eight units a day and six for women.

Despite the statistical evidence on the changing drinking habits of women, there is still little real research into why the trend is happening.

Prof Plant, one of the UK's leading alcohol experts, said: "Much has been written about ladette culture, but the truth is we don't know the reasons behind this burning issue and we urgently need more research."

Factors may include the increasing targeting of young women by alcohol manufacturers and clubs and bars, the greater number of women in higher education and greater affluence. But that would still not explain the excessive drinking by girls too young to go into a pub or buy alcohol.

Prof Plant, addressing the conference with Moira Plant, professor of alcohol studies at UWE, said there was no way to predict whether the youngest female drinkers would continue to consume alcohol more excessively than men as they got older, or would be overtaken later according to drinking traditional patterns.

Prof Plant will today highlight the specific risks of high alcohol consumption affecting girls and women, including the greater danger of sexual assault and of foetal alcohol syndrome caused by drinking in during pregnancy.

He will also show the strong links between alcohol and violent crime, car and other accidents, and the impact on public health including unprecedented levels of liver cirrhosis for those in their 20s and 30s.

The government's alcohol harm reduction strategy for England, announced in March and leaving much of the fight against alcohol misuse up to the drinks industry, was "deficient", said Prof Plant.

It focused too much on education, which had "a sad track record on reducing heavy drinking", and lacked fundingor any specific dates or targets.