The Heaviest Drinkers In Australia Consume More Than Half The Alcohol In The Country

There's an assumption that Aussies can knock back tons of tinnies without much hassle.

But new figures have been released showing just how much booze Australians consume every year.

While it's no surprise that we drink a hell of a lot, what is surprising is how much the heaviest drinkers can swallow.

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Statistics from the 2016 National Drug Strategy Household Survey and the 2013 International Alcohol Control Study revealed the 10 percent heaviest drinkers in Australia consumed a little more than half the amount (54 percent) of alcohol drunk in the whole country.

The report, published last week, says: "These heavy drinkers were more likely to be men and to live in regional and remote areas. They were more likely to drink cask wine and full‐strength beer and to purchase cheaper alcohol than other drinkers.

"In terms of risk behaviours, they were three times as likely as other drinkers to report driving under the influence of alcohol and around five times more likely to report causing public disturbances or verbally abusing sometime."

The numbers state that these people in the top 10 percentile are consuming at least 3.1 standard drinks per day, which is 1.1 more than the national daily recommendation.

But while Australia has a reputation for drinking, it seems as though we're evenly matched in other countries around the world.

The report continues: "In the US, Kerr found that the heaviest 10 percent of drinkers consumed 55 percent of all alcohol.

"More recently, UK researchers have shown that the heaviest drinking 4 percent of the population in the UK drank 30 percent of all alcohol consumed and contributed to 23 percent of industry revenue."

The report has recommended legislators look at cheaper alcohol products to see whether changes need to be made to ensure the public's health is kept in check.

Two of the changes suggested include taxing these products based on their volume, aka upping the cost of a goon sack for example, or minimum unit pricing.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Interesting, Community, Drinking, Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie