Apparent consumption of alcohol decreased by 1.1% in 2010-11 to 182.0 million litres, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
In 2010-11 there were 182.0 million litres of pure alcohol available for consumption, compared with 184.0 million litres in 2009-10. This was the first decrease recorded since 2001-02, and was due to decreases in the volume of pure alcohol from beer (down 3.4%) and wine (down 0.6%).
Over the past year, apparent consumption of spirits increased 4.8%, while Ready to Drink (pre-mixed) (RTDs) beverages have remained stable.
The changes in consumption patterns meant that beer accounted for 42% of all pure alcohol available for consumption in 2010-11 (down from 43% in 2009-10), wine 37% (unchanged), and spirits and RTDs 20% (up from 19% in 2009-10).
Overall, there were 10.0 litres of pure alcohol available for consumption per person aged 15 years and over in 2010-11, down 2.6% from 2009-10. This equates to around 2.2 standard drinks per person per day in 2010-11. > > > > Read More
