Australians drinking less alcohol now than any time in past 50 years

Bureau of Statistics data shows beer still nation’s favourite drink, just ahead of wine

Source: Australian Associated Press

3 Sep 2018 

Australians are drinking less alcohol now than at any time in the past 50 years, and beer is still rated as the nation’s favourite drink, just ahead of a glass of wine.

Official data released on Monday showed that 186 million litres of pure alcohol were consumed across the nation in 2016-17, the lowest figure since 1961-62.

This equates to 9.4 litres of pure alcohol for every person aged 15 years or more, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said – or the equivalent, on average, of 224 stubbies of beer, 38 bottles of wine, 17 bottles of cider, 33 cans of pre-mixed drinks and four bottles of spirits.

A drop in the amount of beer drunk has been the biggest contributor to the overall fall in the year.

Australians downed 3.4% less pure alcohol from beer, or 2.6m litres, in 2016-17, compared with the year before.

But beer was still the drink most favoured by Australians, the beverage accounting for 39.2% of all alcohol consumed in the year.

Wine was a close second, accounting for 38.3% of pure alcohol, followed by spirits (13.1%), ready-to-drink beverages (6%) and cider (3.4%).

The figures, which are based on the amount of alcohol available for consumption across the nation, mean they can overestimate the alcohol consumed because they do not account for storage or waste.

However, they can also underestimate the true level of alcohol drunk by each Australian, given about a fifth simply do not drink at all.

The drop in alcohol available in Australia in 2016-17 continues a downward trend that emerged in 2008-09.

The booziest year on record is 1974-75 – the so-called “peak beer” period – when consumption hit the equivalent of 500 stubbies per person.