More than one in four adults are exceeding recommended alcohol consumption guidelines, with young people most likely to drink excessively.
New figures from the National Health Survey, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, show that 26.8 percent of adults drank in excess of the weekly safe standard in 2022.
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) guidelines suggests that no more than 10 standard alcohol drinks should be consumed in a week and no more than four on any individual day.
According to the National Health Survey, men were most likely to exceed the guidelines at 35.8 percent compared with women at 18 percent. One in three adults aged 18–24 years were drinking above the recommended level.
“One in five (20.5 percent) adults (5.2 million people) consumed five or more standard drinks on any day in the last year at least monthly,” the survey found.
“One in three (33.7 percent ) young adults aged 18–24 years consumed five or more standard drinks on any day in the last year at least monthly, more than any other age group.”
People born in Australia were twice as likely as those born overseas to exceed the alcohol guidelines.
“(Adults) who spoke English as the main language at home were more likely to exceed the guideline than those who spoke any other language (31.2 percent compared to 5.5 percent),”
“(Adults) living in outer regional and remote Australia were more likely to exceed the guideline than those in major cities (30.9 percent compared to 25.6 percent).”
More details are on the ABS website.
