Young New Zealanders’ hazardous drinking down over 13 percentage points over past 5 years

The just released annual NZ Health survey shows the cultural shift in the way Kiwis are drinking continues.

Hazardous drinking or harmful alcohol consumption among adults was similar to last year and has declined by 4.7 percentage points in the past 4 years to 16.6% (21.3% 2019/20).

The largest decrease in hazardous drinking over the past five years was among young New Zealanders’ 18-24 years – a decline of 13.2 percentage points to 22.6% .

“This reduction in hazardous drinking shows the change in the way that we are drinking,” said NZABC executive director Virginia Nicholls.

In NZ fewer young people under 18 are drinking alcohol and those who do are drinking less hazardously.

Although the legal age for purchasing alcohol in New Zealand is 18 years old, 51% of those aged 15–17 years drank alcohol in the past year, which has declined by 8.9 percentage points since the survey began in 2011/12 .

The Stats NZ alcohol consumption per capita has also declined 29% since 1986 .

When we compare our drinking with other countries in the OECD Kiwis are drinking less than the OECD average. This includes less than the US, UK, Australia, Germany, France and Ireland.

“These trends are positive however we need to invest more in education both at secondary school and in our work places to continue to accelerate these changes”, said Virginia.

The Health NZ guidelines for low risk drinking are two standard drinks a day for women, and three standard drinks a day for men, with at least two alcohol-free days each week.