Data from Roy Morgan’s alcohol consumption report reveals over 14 million Australians are now drinking alcohol, with an increase in wine and ready to drink (RTD) liquor.
The number of Australians aged 18 plus, who are drinking alcohol was record at 68.1 per cent in the 12 months to September 2023, this shows an increase of 1.8 per cent since the pre-pandemic period in the 12 months to March 2020, of 66.3 per cent.
This increase is equivalent to nearly one million Australians consuming alcoholic beverages and is higher than any other points during the pandemic.
Wine is the most popular alcohol consumed by Australian and has held a lead for the last few years in comparison to other liquor types.
Australians drinking wine increased to 9,068,000 (44.1 per cent) in the 12 months to September 2023 from 8,096,000 (41.0 per cent) pre-pandemic. Totally a near one million people.
Roy Morgan chief executive officer, Michele Levine said “The trends we are seeing in the post-pandemic period suggest consumption of wine has found a new high above pre-pandemic levels while consumption of spirits looks set to return to pre-pandemic levels.
RTD consumption has continued to rise as a drink of choice. This standout alcoholic beverage type has seen an increase of Australians consumption from 2,138,000 (10.8 per cent) pre-pandemic to 4,319,000 (21.0 per cent) in late 2023.
These RTD consumption records highlight the number of Australians consuming RTDs has doubled and equates to an increase of over 2.1 million people.
Placing RTD consumption at a record high with over one-in-five Australians opting for RTD as their alcoholic beverage.
“The good news is that consumption of RTDs such as vodka, gin, bourbon and rum has been on a sharp rise in recent years and that trend has continued despite the challenging economic circumstances faced by many Australians,” said Levine.
Roy Morgan is Australia’s largest independent Australian research company, collecting objective, independent information on consumers, with offices in each state, as well as in the U.S. and U.K.