Long term trends

Over the past 50 years, the level of apparent consumption of different alcoholic beverages has changed substantially; in particular, the proportion of pure alcohol available for consumption in the form of beer has decreased (from 76% to 42%). The proportion of wine has increased from 12% to 37% and spirits (including RTDs) from 12% to 20%.


GRAPH 2: APPARENT CONSUMPTION OF PURE ALCOHOL,
Beverage type as a proportion of all alcohol



In terms of apparent consumption of pure alcohol per capita, total consumption has fluctuated over the past 50 years. From the early 1960s onwards apparent per capita consumption increased steadily, peaking at 13.1 litres of pure alcohol per person in 1974-75. Apparent per capita consumption remained relatively steady for the next 5-10 years, then declined over the following decade, reaching 9.8 litres per person in 1995-96.

Apparent consumption then gradually increased to 10.6 litres in both 2006-07 and 2007-08, before declining over the past 3 years to 10.0 litres of pure alcohol per person in 2010-11.


GRAPH 3: APPARENT CONSUMPTION OF PURE ALCOHOL, Per capita(a)