In any given four-week period across 2015 Australian adults drank just over 426 million glasses of alcohol between them says a new study from Roy Morgan Research.
This translates to an average of 23 glasses per person every four weeks.
For every 100 glasses of alcohol consumed by Australians in the average four week periods, 48 were beer, 25 still wine, 11 spirits, six ‘ready-to-drink’, four sparkling wine or champagne, three cider, two liqueur and one fortified wine.
The 100-glass breakdown: number of glasses of each alcoholic beverage consumed per 100
Source:Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia), January–December 2015 (n=15,676). Base: Australians 18+
Difference between age groups
When comparing the drinking habits of different age groups, beer accounted for 50 out of every 100 glasses consumed by the 18 – 24 year olds. Beer only accounted for 42 beverages out of 100 for drinkers 65 years and older. Wine accounted for 48 out of every 100 glasses for the 65 and over age demographic.
Young drinkers aged 18 – 24 years consume more spirits, 16 glasses, ready-to-drink glasses, 16 glasses, and cider, three glasses, per average 100 glasses than any other age group.
Andrew Price, Consumer Products General Manager at Roy Morgan Research said by breaking down Australian alcohol consumption data into each 100 glass drunk in an average four weeks provides insight into consumption habits of each beverage.
“Especially striking is the fact that although a higher proportion of Aussie adults drink wine, those who drink beer consume it in greater volumes,” Price said.
“It is also interesting to apply the 100-glass breakdown to specific groups, such as age brackets, as described above. Comparing volumes consumed between drinkers from different socio-economic circumstances can also be interesting. Beer consumption varies dramatically between the top, high-value AB socio-economic quintile of the population (who drink 45 glasses of beer per average 100 glasses of alcohol) and the lowest, least wealthy FG quintile (57 glasses of beer consumed for every 100 glasses of booze),” he said.
“Not surprisingly, the quantities of different beverages consumed by Aussie women and men per 100 glasses vary significantly. While beer accounts for 60 of every 100 glasses drunk by men (compared to 19 for women), women drink greater volumes of almost all the other beverages,” Price stated.