Alcohol is an intrinsic part of Australian culture and it plays a central role in most people's social lives. Heavy drinking is seen as acceptable in almost all social situations, from weddings to sports matches, and even at funerals or baby showers.
Alcohol in Australia is a cultural norm; it serves as a means to encourage social interactivity. But with such a casual attitude towards alcohol also comes the rise of alcohol-related problems such as binge-drinking, alcohol-fuelled violence and health problems.
The consumption of alcohol is widespread within Australia and entwined with many social and cultural activities. However, harmful levels of consumption are a major health issue, associated with increased risk of chronic disease, injury and premature death.
Who drinks alcohol in Australia? Around 77% of adults drink alcohol. 23% do not drink alcohol. The proportion of the population aged 14 and over who consumed alcohol daily declined significantly between 2016 (6.0%) and 2019 (5.4%) (AIHW 2020, Table 3.1).
Looking at the amount of alcohol consumed per person aged 15 years or older, the Seychelles is in first place with around 20.5 litres of alcohol drunk per person per year, according to Our World in Data; studies show that young male peer groups primarily drink high amounts of alcohol in the Seychelles.
Belarus, a country that drinks the most liters of pure alcohol than any other country in the world, was also classified as having one the riskiest pattern of drinking.
Approximately 84 per cent of Australians drink alcohol at least once in a 12-month period, compared to 83.9 per cent in the UK and 68.9 per cent in the US.
The figures released by the World Health Organisation show Australians drink more pure alcohol per year than Americans, Canadians and the Japanese. “Australians drink 10.6 litres of pure alcohol each year, much higher than the global average of 6.4 litres,” according to the authors of the report.
Queenslanders appear to be the nation's biggest beer drinkers, with South Australians drinking the least.
Approximately 40% of the population (aged 14 years and over) drink alcohol at least once per week, including 5% of the population who drink daily.
A BAC of 0.05% (point 0 five) means that there is 0.05g of alcohol in every 100ml of blood. You must be below 0.05% BAC to drive in Australia – although your legal BAC limit could be less, depending on what type of license you have, for example learner drivers must have a 0.00% BAC (see Driving section below).
An ABC News article published in 2018 described lemon, lime, and bitters (LLB) as "Australia's national drink". Lemon, lime, and bitters is a mixed drink made with (clear) lemonade, lime cordial, and Angostura bitters.
In fact, 64 percent of the world's nations have legal drinking ages of 18. The youngest legal drinking age in the world is 15, with both Mali and the Central African Republic allowing folks to drink at that time.
In many parts of Australia, tap water is the preferred choice over bottled water due to its quality, convenience, and cost-effectiveness. With regular testing and monitoring, you can be confident in the safety of your tap water and enjoy the convenience and cost-effectiveness of drinking from the tap.
The alcohol beverages most commonly consumed by Australians are bottled wine (34%), regular strength beer (19%), and bottled spirits/liqueur (15%).
In Australia, the most popular soft drink is still Coca-Cola. It is the most commonly sold soft drink in stores, but it is certainly not the only one. Schweppes is also very popular in Australia. When people hear about Schweppes, they usually think about ginger ale.
Australians aged 18-24 years generally consume more standard drinks on a day they drink than any other age group. Those aged 70+ years are most likely to have 2 or less standard drinks per occasion.
People in South Korea are the most prolific drinkers in Asia, according to the WHO. South Koreans over the age of 15 on average drink 10.9 litres of alcohol a year.
Source: Eurostat. The EU country with the biggest share of its population drinking alcohol on a weekly basis is the Netherlands (47.3 per cent), Luxembourg (43.1 per cent), and Belgium (40.8 per cent).
The majority of Australians (56.1%) drink at least one cup of coffee in an average week, just under half of us (47.6%) drink tea and only 12.5% drink hot chocolate.
All the countries with complete bans on alcohol (Libya, Kuwait, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen) are majority Muslim. Because it is banned in the Quran, many Muslim countries tend to take a dim view of drinking even if they don't ban it outright for everyone.
The pen-tailed treeshrew of Malaysia gets credit for having the world's highest alcohol tolerance. Seven species of animals, including the treeshrew and the slow loris, feed on fermented nectar from the flower buds of the bertam palm plant.