The decline in smoking rates over the past three decades means
Australia now has one of the lowest smoking rates among
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
countries according to a new report released today by the
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
Mark Cooper-Stanbury, Head of the Institute's Population Health
Unit, said that with smoking rates just over 17%, Australia ranked
fourth lowest behind the United States, Sweden and Canada.
'But that means we can still do better,' he said.
The report, Statistics on drug use in Australia 2006,
summarises the major statistical collections on drug-use in
Australia. It contains information on the use of tobacco, alcohol,
illicit drugs and pharmaceuticals and examines the effects of drugs
on health and crime.
The report showed that while smoking rates have declined,
drinking patterns have remained relatively unchanged over the last
fifteen years and the use of various illicit drugs have either
declined or remained stable.
In 2004, about 9% of Australians drank daily, 41% weekly and 34%
drank less than weekly.
'In terms of per capita consumption, that means we each drank
around 92 litres of beer, 20 litres of wine, and 1 litre of pure
alcohol from spirits,' Mr Cooper-Stanbury said.
In terms of the risk of alcohol-related harm, about 35% of
drinkers consumed alcohol at levels considered risky or high risk
for short-term harm.
In 2001, high-risk patterns of alcohol consumption were closely
linked to negative work-related behaviours and absenteeism.
In 2004, close to 40% of Australians aged 14 and over had used
an illicit drug in their lifetime, with marijuana the most commonly
used illicit drug. Almost 10% reported using methamphetamine at
least once, and 3% had used it in the past 12 months.
In addition to statistics on drug, alcohol and tobacco use, the
report also provides information on treatment services and
substance use in various population groups, such as in youth,
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, pregnant women,
prisoners and employees.
Other key findings include:
- A higher percentage of low birthweight babies were born to
mothers with opioid (28%) or cannabis (29%) diagnoses compared with
those without (10%).
- Almost 60% of prisoners had a history of injecting drugs, and
they were more likely to test positive to hepatitis C (56%) and
hepatitis B (27%) than non-injecting drug users in prison.
- In 2005, 46% of injecting drug users had overdosed at some
point in their lives.
- Around half (52%) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples were smokers.
- In 2004-05, the Australian Government collected over $6.7
billion related to the sale of tobacco products, and $5.1 billion
related to alcohol sales.
12 April 2007
Further information: Mark Cooper-Stanbury,
AIHW, tel. 6244 1251
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, AIHW, tel. 61 2 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for availability of the Statistics on drug
use in Australia 2006.