Australia: share of young people exceeding alcohol consumption guidelines 2021

According to the National Health Survey conducted during the 2021 financial year in Australia, over one quarter of young Australians between the ages of 18 and 24 years were exceeding the Australian alcohol risk guidelines. Over one fifth of respondents aged 18 to 24 reported consuming five or more drinks on any day in the last 12 months at least monthly.

Share of young people aged 15 to 24 years old exceeding the risk guidelines for drinking alcohol in Australia in financial year 2021

Characteristic	15-17 years old	18-24 years old
Consumed more than 10 drinks in the last week*	0.8%	14.4%
Consumed 5 or more drinks on any day in the last 12 months at least monthly**	2.1%	22%
Total exceeded guideline	1.9%	26.3%

Loading statistic...

Download

Source

Show detailed source information?

Already a member?

Source

Use Ask Statista Research Service

Release date

March 2021

More information

Region

Australia

Survey time period

August 2020 to June 2021

Number of respondents

11,110 households

Age group

15-24 years old

Special properties

Australia's financial year runs from July 1 to June 30 of the stated year; for example, financial year 2021 starts on July 1, 2020 and ends on June 30, 2021

Method of interview

Online survey

Supplementary notes

The guidelines from the National Health and Medical Research Council used by the source are:

Guideline 1: Reducing the risk of alcohol-related harm for adults - To reduce the risk of harm from alcohol-related disease or injury, healthy men and women should drink no more than ten standard drinks a week and no more than four standard drinks on any one day.

Guideline 2: Children and people under 18 years of age - To reduce the risk of injury and other harms to health, children and people under 18 years of age should not drink alcohol.

* Value for 15-17 year old age group has a high margin of error and should be used with caution.

** (note from source): At least monthly consumption has been interpreted as consuming five or more drinks at least 12 times in the last 12 months. This measure is not directly comparable to single occasion risk interpreted from the NHMRC 2009 Guideline 2.

Citation formats