Australia: Fewer Australians drinking alcohol at home

Fewer Australians are drinking alcohol at home despite reported stockpiling of booze from liquor stores and supermarkets during COVID-19 restrictions, Inside FMCG reported on May 21.

Roy Morgan’s latest Alcohol Consumption Report found that drinking at home is closely connected to age and the older generation is more inclined to drink alcohol at home.

The research agency said that a total of 66.3 per cent (13,073,000) of Australians aged 18+ in the year to March 2020 consumed alcohol in an average four-week period, down from 67.5 per cent (13,102,000) 12 months ago.

“Our data shows a consistent decline in Australians’ alcohol consumption. Looking back to 2006, 73.5 per cent of the adult population were regular drinkers. That has dropped to 66.3 per cent in the 12 months to March 2020, which represents a large number of people who no longer choose to consume alcohol regularly,” Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine said.

Roy Morgan said that about two-thirds of Australian drinkers (65.4%) ‘drink alcohol mostly at home’.

“During the early stages of the COVID-19 lockdown, the panic buying of large quantities of alcohol prompted understandable concern from health authorities and saw the introduction of buying limits. However, it’s likely the alcohol bought was simply a substitute for alcohol which people would otherwise have been consumed at venues, or simply stocking up ‘just in case’, rather than an overall increase,” Levine said.

21 May, 2020