What can population statistics tell us about alcohol consumption and health?
Excessive or inappropriate alcohol consumption is recognised as a risk behaviour which affects health outcomes along with the social, economic and environmental costs associated with injury and disease.
Incidence of this risk behaviour tends to differ across the population according to age, sex, educational and cultural background.
An understanding of the characteristics of the people in the identified risk groups can indicate pathways for policy intervention and facilitate monitoring programmes addressing issues related to the misuse of alcohol.
Resources
Lowering the Drinking Age
Ministry of Youth Development background paper on changes to drinking laws. Published 1999.
Household spending on alcohol and tobacco
Information from the Household Economic Survey, published by Statistics New Zealand, three-yearly.
Experts
Contact the Public Health Intelligence Team for further information on alcohol consumption.