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. Twenty-three percent of Australians do not drink alcohol at all.
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).
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The percentage of U.S. adults aged 18 and older who say they drink alcohol averaged 63% over the past two years, whereas 36% described themselves as “total abstainers.” The drinking rate ticks up to 65% when narrowed to adults of legal drinking age, which is 21 and older nationwide.
According to the 2021 NSDUH, 213.2 million adults ages 18 and older (84.0% in this age group) reported that they drank alcohol at some point in their lifetime. This includes: 106.5 million men ages 18 and older (86.2% in this age group)
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.
Russia and Australia have the highest prevalence of alcoholism dependence overall, with 2.61 per cent and 2.58 per cent, respectively. According to the World Health Organization, US has the lowest rate of alcohol dependence with only 1.93 per cent.
Top Ten Drunkest Countries
In terms of drinking frequency, France took the top spot for the average number of days that alcohol was consumed, at 132 days a year, followed by New Zealand on 120. Globally, people drank twice a week on average or 101 days in 2020.
Heavy Alcohol Use:
NIAAA defines heavy drinking as follows: For men, consuming more than 4 drinks on any day or more than 14 drinks per week. For women, consuming more than 3 drinks on any day or more than 7 drinks per week.
In 2018, two-thirds (66.3%) of adults aged 18 and over consumed alcohol in the past year. Among adults aged 18 and over, 5.1% engaged in heavy drinking (consumption of an average of more than 14 alcoholic drinks per week for men or more than 7 drinks per week for women in the past year).
Globally, almost half of adults do not drink alcohol (excluding those who used to drink but have stopped).
Among everyone 12 and older (it's a strange age bracket, but it's how the gender data comes), 14.9 percent of men said they had never drunk alcohol compared to 20.4 percent of women.
But in reality, if someone drinks a lot and never seems to get drunk, they have developed a high tolerance for alcohol. Tolerance occurs because of your body's remarkable ability to process alcohol. Unlike with other drugs, your body actually tries to adapt to alcohol's persistent presence.
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. Twenty-three percent of Australians do not drink alcohol at all.
The most recent data by country for 18 selected developed countries, indicated that annual alcohol consumption was in the range of 6 to 12 litres per capita. Australian annual alcohol consumption was fifth highest among the selected countries at 9.5 litres capita.
Data recently released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows alcohol consumption in Australia has reached its lowest point since the early 1960s, having declined steadily since the mid-2000s. Survey data suggests this decline has been driven almost entirely by reductions in youth drinking.
According to a recent article in Men's Health, George Koob, Ph. D. believes having a drink or two every night isn't an absolute indication you're headed for trouble. In fact, there's very little data about one or two drinks negatively impacting your health or hastening your decline into alcoholism.
Drinking a bottle of wine a day may rapidly increase the likelihood of physical and chemical alcohol addiction developing. Drinking a bottle per day equates to approximately 9 units per day or 63 units per week, far in excess of UK NHS recommended guidelines (14 units per week)[1].
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.
So essentially, as you reach your thirties, your liver and body's ability to eliminate alcohol from your system takes longer and in return you may find that your hangovers last longer, and even one night of drinking can leave you knocked out for days."
Binge drinking is most common among younger adults aged 18–34. Binge drinking is more common among men than among women. Binge drinking is most common among adults who have higher household incomes ($75,000 or more), are non-Hispanic White, or live in the Midwest.
Gnowangerup has been crowned the booziest town in Australia, with one-third of its adult residents necking two or more alcoholic drinks every day.
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. However, the UK leads the way with alcohol abuse problems.
Australians have been named the heaviest drinkers in the world in a survey after spending more time drunk in 2020 than any other nation.