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How much are New Zealanders drinking per annum on a per capita basis?

Alcohol is the most commonly used recreational drug in New Zealand. Approximately 81 percent of New Zealanders between the ages of 12 and 65 years reported consuming alcohol within a 12 month period as part of a 2004 Ministry of Health alcohol use survey.

Statistics New Zealand produces data on “alcohol available for consumption” based on information collected by the New Zealand Customs Service. The data measures the quantity of alcoholic beverages (e.g. beer, wine, and spirits) released to the market each year, not the amount consumed. As such this data provides a good proxy rather than actual measure of how much New Zealanders are drinking annually.

Figure 1 (below) shows that the alcohol available for consumption on a per capita basis trended downwards from its high in 1986 for the first 10 years (1986-1996). Over the next 10 year period (1997-2007) alcohol available for consumption on a per capita basis remained relatively stable, ranging between 8.7 litres of pure alcohol per capita and 9.4 litres annually.

Figure 1: Alcohol available for consumption, per head of population aged 15+, 1986–2007