Alcohol use statistics


Alcohol use in the general population aged 14 years and older

Alcohol use in Australia has remained relatively stable over the past 10 years.

In 2022-23, 80.3% of South Australians had consumed at least one full serve of alcohol in the last 12 months, stable from 2019 (79.2%). The national percentage was 76.9%; 76.6% in 2019.

Daily alcohol use – aged 14 years and older

The percentage of Australians who consumed alcohol daily remained stable between 2019 (5.4%) and 2022-23 (5.2%). Daily drinking in 2022-23 was higher among men (6.7%) than women (3.7%).

Daily consumption among South Australians also remained stable between 2019 (5.8%) and 2022-23 (4.7%). However, there was a significant decrease among male daily drinkers, from 8.1% to 5.6%. Daily drinking was again lower among women (3.9%) and stable from 2019 (3.5%).

Weekly alcohol use – aged 14 years and older

Just over one-third (35.9%) of Australians in 2022-23 reporting drinking weekly (excluding daily drinkers), which remained stable from 2019 (34.9%). In 2022-23, 36.7% of South Australians reported drinking weekly (excluding daily drinkers), also stable from 2019 (36.8%).

Alcohol use at levels that increase risk of injury or disease

Information on alcohol consumption at risky levels is presented in the graphs below. There were no significant differences over time in any measure, with South Australia reporting similar rates of risky drinking than those seen nationally.

A summary of Australian and South Australian data on the use of alcohol and other drugs

Alcohol use among South Australian secondary school students(1)

The percentage of students that had ever tried alcohol has decreased significantly since 1996. Between 2017 and 2022-23, the percentage of all students that had ever used alcohol remained stable (66.8% to 69.5%), as did the percentage that had used in the last year (44.4% to 48.8%), the last month (24.6% to 23.7%) and the last week (12.3% to 12.7%).

There were no changes between 2017 and 2022-23 among male or female students in the percentage that had used alcohol ever, in the last year and in the last week. However, there was a significant decrease in the percentage of male students that had used alcohol in the last month (24.8% to 16.7%). During 2022-23, there was a significant difference between male and female students in the percentage that had used alcohol in the last year (42.7% compared with 55.4%).

There were no significant differences between 2017 and 2022-23 among students aged 12-15 or 16-17 years in the percentage that had used alcohol at any frequency. During 2022-23, there were significant differences in the percentage of 12-15 and 16-17 year old students that had used alcohol in the last year (39.8% aged 12-15 years compared with 68.3% aged 16-17 years), the last month (16% aged 12-15 years compared with 40.6% aged 16-17 years) and the last week (7.7% aged 12-15 years compared with 25.6% aged 16-17 years).

During 2022-23, one-fifth (20.8%) of secondary school students consumed more than four standard drinks (exceeding the recommended guidelines) at least once in a single occasion of drinking within the past two weeks, and 27.5% within the last month. Three-fifths (59.8%) had done so in the last year, and 64.4% in their lifetime. Between 2017 and 2022-23, the percentage of all students that had consumed more than four drinks on a single occasion at various frequencies did not change, but for female students there was a significant increase in the percentage that had consumed more than four drinks on a single occasion in the last two weeks (18.3% to 25.5%).

There were significant changes in lifetime quantity of use between 2017 and 2022-23 among both age groups (a decrease from 59% to 49.2% for 12-15 year olds and an increase from 67% to 81.7% for 16-17 year olds), and significant increases in the percentage of 16-17 year olds that had consumed more than four drinks on a single occasion in the last year (65.5% to 77.9%), the last four weeks (38.7% to 52.6%) and the last two weeks (25.8% to 37.2%).

During 2022-23, there were significant differences by age group in the percentage of students that had consumed more than four drinks on a single occasion at all frequencies.

For more information, see the following publications:

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Reports


[1] The ASSAD Survey is the largest survey of adolescent substance use in Australia. Every three years since 1984, up to 30,000 secondary school students aged 12 to 17 years have taken part. Students are recruited from South Australian Government, Catholic and Independent schools. The most recent iteration before this release was in 2017. The planned 2020 survey was postponed due to COVID-19 and conducted in 2022-23. In 2022-23, the response rate was very low at 5%; of 143 schools approached, only seven participated. In addition, no students from Catholic schools and no 12-year-olds participated. Consequently, the Independent school students were used to represent non-Government students, and students aged 13 years from Government schools were used to represent 12-13-year-olds. Due to the significantly smaller sample size achieved in 2022-23, estimates of use in the last week were unreliable for nearly all drug classes, and for some drugs, use in the last month was also unreliable. Some estimates by sex and age group should be interpreted with caution.