Summary

There were 184.0 million litres of pure alcohol available for consumption from alcoholic beverages in Australia in 2009–10. This was 0.7% more than the amount available for consumption in 2008–09 (182.7 million litres).

The increase was comprised of increases from wine (up 4.3%) and spirits (up 0.7%), and decreases from beer (down 1.7%) and Ready to Drink (pre-mixed) beverages (down 1.9%).

Of all pure alcohol available for consumption in 2009–10, beer contributed 43.3%, wine 37.2%, spirits 12.5% and RTDs 7.0%.

On a per capita basis, there were 10.3 litres of pure alcohol available for consumption per person in 2009–10, which is less that in 2008–09. As a standard drink consists of 12.5 mls of pure alcohol, this is equivalent to an average of 2.2 standard drinks per day per person aged 15 years and over. Note that these figures will overestimate the true level of alcohol consumed as beverages, as adjustments cannot be made for wastage and other factors such as the alcohol used in cooking.

Year ended 30 June	Beer	Wine	Spirits	RTDs(a)	Total
VOLUME OF PURE ALCOHOL ('000 litres)
2005	75 075	57 275	19 667	15 338	167 355
2006	76 388	58 311	19 154	16 383	170 236
2007	76 849	62 263	19 355	18 123	177 590
2008	79 496	62 807	20 160	18 693	181 156
2009	81 148	65 600	22 865	13 056	182 669
2010	79 734	68 452	23 023	12 811	184 021
PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION OF PURE ALCOHOL(b) (litres)
2005	4.62	3.53	1.21	0.94	10.31
2006	4.63	3.53	1.16	0.99	10.31
2007	4.63	3.70	1.15	1.08	10.57
2008	4.63	3.66	1.17	1.09	10.56
2009	4.62	3.73	1.30	0.74	10.40
2010	4.44	3.81	1.30	0.70	10.25
(a) Ready to Drink (pre-mixed) beverages.
(b) Litres per person aged 15 years and over.