In any given four-week period last year, Australian adults drank just over 426 million glasses of alcohol between them, the latest data from Roy Morgan Research reveals.
While this may seem like an ocean of liquor at first glance, it actually translates to an average 23 glasses per person per four weeks.
For every 100 glasses of liquor consumed by Aussies in an average four weeks, 48 glasses are beer, 25 are still wine, 11 are spirits, six are RTD, four are sparkling wine/champagne, three are cider, two are liqueurs and one is fortified wine.
Comparing the 100-glass breakdown between different age groups reveals some striking variations. For example, the beer component comprises 50 glasses out of each 100 consumed by the 18-24 year-old-age bracket, but only 42 among drinkers aged 65 and over.
Wine, on the other hand, accounts for 48 of every 100 glasses drunk by the 65+ demographic: 42 being still wine, four being sparkling/champagne, and two being fortified. This is substantially more than any other age group – in fact, the number of glasses of wine consumed per 100 increases in proportion with age.
Drinkers aged 18-24 also consume more spirits (16 glasses), RTD (also 16 glasses) and cider (three glasses) per average 100 glasses than any other age group.