New Zealand Drinking Patterns

Overall

• 85 percent of New Zealanders aged 16 to 64 drank alcohol in the past year (Ministry of Health, 2009).
• Three in five (61.6%) past-year drinkers consumed more than ALAC recommends (a maximum of six standard drinks for males and four for females on a drinking occasion) at least once during the last year (Ministry of Health, 2009).
• One in eight (12.6%) past-year drinkers consumed more than the recommended guidelines more than once a week during the last year (Ministry of Health, 2009).
• One in six (17.7%) adults (aged 15+) have a potentially hazardous drinking pattern (Ministry of Health, 2008).
• One in four (28.7%) women who had been pregnant in the past three years reported that they had consumed alcohol while pregnant (Ministry of Health, 2009).
• One in ten (10%) adult drinkers reported planning to get drunk on their last drinking occasion (Research New Zealand, 2009).

Young people

• Seven out of ten (71.6%) secondary school students reported having ever drunk alcohol, with six out of ten currently drinking alcohol (Adolescent Health Research Group 2008).
• Nearly half (46.1%) of current secondary school drinkers reported consuming five or more drinks in a usual drinking session (Adolescent Health Research Group 2008).
• One in five (18%) young drinkers reported they planned to get drunk on the last occasion (Research New Zealand 2009).

Māori

• Previously Māori were less likely to have consumed alcohol in the past year than non-Māori. But in 2007/08 this difference had decreased and was no longer statistically significantSurvey results, including comparisons between surveys, have been tested for their significance at the 95 percent confidence level, meaning that this is how confident we can be that the results are not due to chance. (Ministry of Health, 2009).
• Māori past-year drinkers generally consume alcohol less frequently than non-Māori past-year drinkers (Ministry of Health, 2009).
• Among past-year drinkers, Māori exceed the recommended guidelines in a drinking occasion more frequently than non-Māori. One in four (23.9%) Māori past-year drinkers consumed more than recommended guidelines at least weekly in the past year (Ministry of Health, 2009).
• Māori women are nearly twice as likely, and Māori men 1.5 times as likely, to have a potentially hazardous alcohol drinking pattern, compared to those in the total population (Ministry of Health, 2008).
• Between 2002/03 and 2006/07 there was a significant increase in the prevalence of hazardous drinking for Māori men aged 15 and over (Ministry of Health, 2008).

Pacific peoples

• Although Pacific peoples are still more likely to abstain, from 1996/97 to 2007/08 there was a significant increase in the prevalence of past-year drinking for both Pacific men and women (Ministry of Health, 2009).
• Among past-year drinkers, Pacific men are significantly more likely to have consumed more than the recommended guidelines in the past year than non-Pacific men (Ministry of Health, 2009).
• Among past-year drinkers, Pacific men and women had an increased prevalence of hazardous drinking compared with the total population (Ministry of Health, 2008).