Australia - Australians smoking less but still drinking

Citation

(2007), "Australia - Australians smoking less but still drinking", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 20 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2007.06220eab.007

Australia - Australians smoking less but still drinking

Far East and Australasia

AustraliaAustralians smoking less but still drinking

The decline in smoking rates over the past three decades means Australia now has one of the lowest smoking rates among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries according to a new report released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

Mark Cooper-Stanbury, Head of the Institute’s Population Health Unit, said that with smoking rates just over 17 per cent, Australia ranked fourth lowest behind the USA, Sweden and Canada. “But that means we can still do better,” he said.

The report, Statistics on Drug Use in Australia 2006, summarises the major statistical collections on drug-use in Australia. It contains information on the use of tobacco, alcohol, illicit drugs and pharmaceuticals and examines the effects of drugs on health and crime.

The report showed that while smoking rates have declined, drinking patterns have remained relatively unchanged over the last 15 years and the use of various illicit drugs have either declined or remained stable.

In 2004, about 9 per cent of Australians drank daily, 41 per cent weekly and 34 per cent drank less than weekly. “In terms of per capita consumption, that means we each drank around 92 litres of beer, 20 litres of wine, and 1 litre of pure alcohol from spirits,” Mr Cooper-Stanbury said. In terms of the risk of alcohol-related harm, about 35 per cent of drinkers consumed alcohol at levels considered risky or high risk for short-term harm. In 2001, high-risk patterns of alcohol consumption were closely linked to negative work-related behaviours and absenteeism.

In 2004, close to 40 per cent of Australians aged 14 and over had used an illicit drug in their lifetime, with marijuana the most commonly used illicit drug. Almost 10 per cent reported using methamphetamine at least once, and 3 per cent had used it in the past 12 months.

In addition to statistics on drug, alcohol and tobacco use, the report also provides information on treatment services and substance use in various population groups, such as in youth, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, pregnant women, prisoners and employees.

Other key findings include:

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  a higher percentage of low birthweight babies were born to mothers with opioid (28 per cent) or cannabis (29 per cent) diagnoses compared with those without (10 per cent);

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  almost 60 per cent of prisoners had a history of injecting drugs, and they were more likely to test positive to hepatitis C (56 per cent) and hepatitis B (27 per cent) than non-injecting drug users in prison;

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  in 2005, 46 per cent of injecting drug users had overdosed at some point in their lives;

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  around half (52 per cent) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were smokers; and

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  in 2004-2005, the Australian Government collected over $6.7 billion related to the sale of tobacco products, and $5.1 billion related to alcohol sales.

For more information: www.aihw.gov.au