Alcohol, tobacco & other drugs in Australia:

Alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations

Web article

Last updated: 11 Dec 2025

Topic: Alcohol

AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2025) Alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 23 June 2026.

Population groups

What is a drug-related hospitalisation? Expand

A hospitalisation is an episode of admitted patient care ending with discharge, transfer or death, or a portion of a hospital stay beginning or ending in a change of type of care. Alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations are hospitalisations where the principal diagnosis relates to a substance use disorder or direct harm due to selected substances (for example, poisoning) (AIHW 2018). The principal diagnosis is considered to be responsible for an episode of admitted patient care to hospital.

The use of alcohol and other drugs can lead to serious harms that require admission to hospital. This includes acute harms (for example, drug poisoning) as well as conditions related to chronic use (for example, dependence or withdrawal, alcoholic liver disease and drug-induced nephropathy).

This page focuses on the characteristics of alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations, using administrative data collected from hospitals across Australia. For related content on other health and harms related to alcohol and other drug use (including ambulance attendances and deaths), see Health and harms.

Key findings

There were around 146,000 hospitalisations due to alcohol and other drugs in 2023–24, representing 1.2% of all hospitalisations in that year
Males and people aged 45–54 continue to have the highest rates of alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations
Nearly 3 in 5 alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations in 2023–24 involved an overnight stay
Alcohol continues to account for more hospitalisations than any other drug type, representing nearly 3 in 5 alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations in 2023–24

What data sources are available?

Information about alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations comes from the National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD), an administrative data set containing data from hospitals across Australia and coded to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM).

Data on alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations are routinely reported by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) and the National Illicit Drug Indicators Project (NIDIP).

These reports are updated at different times and may therefore refer to different years of data. For more information about each data source, see Technical notes.

How many alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations are there in Australia?

There were around 146,000 hospitalisations due to alcohol and other drugs in 2023–24, representing 1.2% of all hospitalisations

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database
Between 2020–21 and 2023–24, the number of alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations declined and then rose again

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database

There were 12.6 million hospitalisations in Australia in 2023–24, up by 4.1% from the previous year (AIHW 2025). Hospitalisations with a drug-related principal diagnosis accounted for 1.2% of these (145,759 hospitalisations, or 540.8 per 100,000 people). The number and rate of alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations was higher than 2022–23 (134,776 hospitalisations or 512.1 per 100,000), but lower than the peak in 2020–21 (151,975 hospitalisations, or 592.9 per 100,000), following earlier rises (Table NHMD4, Figure 1).

Figure 1: Hospitalisations with a drug-related principal diagnosis, 2015–16 to 2023–24

Number

Rate (per 100,000 population)

Year	All alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations	Alcohol
2015–16	135664	68353
2016–17	137821	70100
2017–18	136273	72437
2018–19	140685	75880
2019–20	140822	74624
2020–21	151975	86586
2021–22	135299	80379
2022–23	134776	80439
2023–24	145759	84318

Year	All alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations	Alcohol
2015–16	565.6	285
2016–17	565.2	287.5
2017–18	550.4	292.6
2018–19	559.5	301.8
2019–20	551.8	292.4
2020–21	592.9	337.8
2021–22	524.9	311.9
2022–23	512.1	305.6
2023–24	540.8	312.8

Crude rates are based on the Australian estimated resident population (ERP) as at 31 December of the reference year. For example, rates for 2020–21 were calculated using the ERP as at 31 December 2020. Rates for previous years may differ from previously reported rates due to updated ERPs. The last access to the database for ERP was 8 August 2025.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting Australian Government closure of the international border from 20 March 2020 caused significant disruptions to the usual Australian population trends. This report uses Australian ERP estimates that reflect these disruptions. In the year July 2020 to June 2021, the overall population growth was much smaller than the years prior. In particular, there was a relatively large decline in the population of Victoria. ABS reporting indicates that this was primarily due to net-negative international migration. This change in the usual population trends may complicate the interpretation of statistics calculated from these ERPs. For example, rates and proportions may be greater than in previous years due to decreases in the denominator (population size) of some sub-populations.
Changes to the Australian Coding Standard for Rehabilitation (ACS 2104), introduced from 1 July 2015 in the 9th edition of ICD-10-AM mean that Z50.- Care involving the use of rehabilitation procedures (which was previously required to be coded as the principal diagnosis) is now an ‘Unacceptable principal diagnosis’. The change to the ACS means that the ‘reason’ for rehabilitation will now be identified using the principal diagnosis (rather than as the first additional diagnosis). This change has had minimal impact on hospitalisations related to a drug-related principal diagnosis.
Hospitalisations with a care type of ‘Newborn’ (without qualified days), and records for ‘Hospital boarders’ and ‘Posthumous organ procurement’ have been excluded.
In 2019–20 and 2022-23, the AIHW revised the groupings of drug-related principal diagnoses reported in this table. In 2022-23, AIHW added extra codes to alcohol. These revisions have been applied to the timeseries.
From May 2020, updates were implemented to the National Hospital Morbidity Database to remove duplicates involved in contracted care. Trend data may not match previously published results.
This analysis does not provide state/territory disaggregation and includes cross-border hospitalisations.
Total includes fetal and perinatal conditions.
Total includes hospitalisations for patients aged under 15 or whose age was missing/not stated, and/or sex other/not stated.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database 2023–24 (Supplementary Table NHMD4)

NDARC provides detailed information on principal diagnoses and intent for drug-related hospitalisations, which is not available in the AIHW analysis and not available for 2023–24 at time of publication. NDARC identified 51,413 hospitalisations in 2022–23, excluding alcohol and tobacco (Chrzanowska et al. 2025). In 2022–23:

over half (54%) of all drug-related hospitalisations had a principal diagnosis of mental and behavioural disorder due to substance use, while 46% were due to drug poisoning
around 7 in 10 (71%) hospitalisations due to drug poisoning were intentional (Chrzanowska et al. 2025).

Who is most likely to be involved in alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations?

Among all alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations in 2023–24:

Males accounted for more than half (56% or 81,761 hospitalisations) of hospitalisations, consistent with previous years.
Nearly half (46% or 66,620 hospitalisations) were for people aged 45 years and over. However, although people aged 45–54 had the highest rate of hospitalisation (977.4 per 100,000 people, or 32,340 hospitalisations), people aged 55 years and over had the lowest rate (445.9 per 100,000 or 34,280 hospitalisations) (Table NHMD4, Figure 2).

In 2023–24, nearly 3 in 5 (58% or 84,342 hospitalisations) alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations involved an overnight stay (tables NHMD2 and NHMD3).

NDARC analysis provides additional information about care characteristics, which is not available in the AIHW analysis. Among drug-related hospitalisations (excluding alcohol and tobacco) in 2022–23:

Around 3 in 5 (61%) had a care type of acute care, and 38% had a care type of mental health care.
Nearly 3 in 5 (57%) stays were short (one day; including hospitalisations with a same-day discharge), and 18% of stays each were moderate (2–4 days) or long (5–14 days).
Around 1 in 20 (6.2%) included a stay in the intensive care unit, of which 94% had a principal diagnosis of poisoning (Chrzanowska et al. 2025).

What drugs are most likely to be involved in hospitalisations?

58%

Alcohol accounted for around 3 in 5 drug-related hospitalisations in 2023–24

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database
Methamphetamine and cannabinoids were the most common illicit drugs involved in alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations in 2023–24

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database

Alcohol has continued to account for a higher rate of hospitalisations than any other drug type over the past decade. Alcohol accounted for almost 3 in 5 alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations (58% or 84,318 hospitalisations) in 2023–24 (Table NHMD4, Figure 1).

Other drugs commonly identified in hospitalisations in 2023–24 included:

methamphetamine (10% or 15,067 hospitalisations)
cannabinoids (4.7% or 6,878 hospitalisations)
non-opioid analgesics (4.2% or 6,091 hospitalisations)
opioids (4.1% or 5,935 hospitalisations)
GHB (2.5% or 3,674 hospitalisations) (Table NHMD3, Figure 3).

Figure 3: Hospitalisations with a drug-related principal diagnosis (excluding alcohol), by drug type, 2015–16 to 2023–24

Number

Rate (per 100,000 population)

Year	Antidepressants	Benzodiazepines	Cannabinoids	Cocaine	GHB	Hallucinogens	MDMA	Methamphetamine	Non-opioid analgesics	Opioids
2015–16	4446	6253	6020	776	569	263	635	8682	8574	9194
2016–17	4616	6361	6302	818	882	339	704	9691	9172	8882
2017–18	4156	5479	6461	1040	828	335	644	9759	7826	8763
2018–19	4120	5204	6100	1217	647	376	868	11174	7197	8650
2019–20	4137	5001	6640	1275	1900	435	893	13160	6783	7597
2020–21	4187	4687	7488	1786	2020	471	507	11915	8213	6690
2021–22	3708	3799	6854	1256	1186	314	258	9811	7269	5836
2022–23	3303	3278	6503	985	2200	255	331	11300	6667	5614
2023–24	3032	3307	6878	1322	3674	392	493	15067	6091	5935

Year	Antidepressants	Benzodiazepines	Cannabinoids	Cocaine	GHB	Hallucinogens	MDMA	Methamphetamine	Non-opioid analgesics	Opioids
2015–16	18.5	26.1	25.1	3.2	2.4	1.1	2.6	36.2	35.7	38.3
2016–17	18.9	26.1	25.8	3.4	3.6	1.4	2.9	39.7	37.6	36.4
2017–18	16.8	22.1	26.1	4.2	3.3	1.4	2.6	39.4	31.6	35.4
2018–19	16.4	20.7	24.3	4.8	2.6	1.5	3.5	44.4	28.6	34.4
2019–20	16.2	19.6	26	5	7.4	1.7	3.5	51.6	26.6	29.8
2020–21	16.3	18.3	29.2	7	7.9	1.8	2	46.5	32	26.1
2021–22	14.4	14.7	26.6	4.9	4.6	1.2	1	38.1	28.2	22.6
2022–23	12.5	12.5	24.7	3.7	8.4	1	1.3	42.9	25.3	21.3
2023–24	11.2	12.3	25.5	4.9	13.6	1.5	1.8	55.9	22.6	22

Crude rates are based on the Australian estimated resident population (ERP) as at 31 December of the reference year. For example, rates for 2020–21 were calculated using the ERP as at 31 December 2020. Rates for previous years may differ from previously reported rates due to updated ERPs. The last access to the database for ERP was 8 August 2025.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting Australian Government closure of the international border from 20 March 2020 caused significant disruptions to the usual Australian population trends. This report uses Australian ERP estimates that reflect these disruptions. In the year July 2020 to June 2021, the overall population growth was much smaller than the years prior. In particular, there was a relatively large decline in the population of Victoria. ABS reporting indicates that this was primarily due to net-negative international migration. This change in the usual population trends may complicate the interpretation of statistics calculated from these ERPs. For example, rates and proportions may be greater than in previous years due to decreases in the denominator (population size) of some sub-populations.
Changes to the Australian Coding Standard for Rehabilitation (ACS 2104), introduced from 1 July 2015 in the 9th edition of ICD-10-AM mean that Z50.- Care involving the use of rehabilitation procedures (which was previously required to be coded as the principal diagnosis) is now an ‘Unacceptable principal diagnosis’. The change to the ACS means that the ‘reason’ for rehabilitation will now be identified using the principal diagnosis (rather than as the first additional diagnosis). This change has had minimal impact on hospitalisations related to a drug-related principal diagnosis.
Hospitalisations with a care type of ‘Newborn’ (without qualified days), and records for ‘Hospital boarders’ and ‘Posthumous organ procurement’ have been excluded.
In 2019–20 and 2022-23, the AIHW revised the groupings of drug-related principal diagnoses reported in this table. In 2022-23, AIHW added extra codes to alcohol. These revisions have been applied to the timeseries.
From May 2020, updates were implemented to the National Hospital Morbidity Database to remove duplicates involved in contracted care. Trend data may not match previously published results.
This analysis does not provide state/territory disaggregation and includes cross-border hospitalisations.
Total includes fetal and perinatal conditions.
Total includes hospitalisations for patients aged under 15 or whose age was missing/not stated, and/or sex other/not stated.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database 2023–24 (Supplementary Table NHMD4)

What are principal and additional diagnoses? Expand

Each hospitalisation captured in the AIHW’s National Hospital Morbidity Database must have a principal diagnosis recorded and may have additional diagnoses recorded:

The principal diagnosis is the diagnosis considered to be chiefly responsible for an episode of admitted patient care.
Additional diagnoses are conditions or complaints that co-exist with the principal diagnosis or arise during the episode of care. Up to 99 additional diagnoses may be recorded, and these diagnoses give information on the conditions that are significant in terms of treatment required, investigations needed and resources used during the hospitalisation.

The main analysis of alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations on this page includes only hospitalisations where the principal diagnosis relates to a substance use disorder or direct harm due to selected substances (AIHW 2018). This is an undercount as it excludes hospitalisations where drug-related diagnoses were recorded as additional diagnoses but not the principal diagnosis.

To examine the broader impact of drug use in hospitalisations data, supplementary analysis was conducted for hospitalisations with selected drugs recorded in any of the first 20 diagnosis fields. This analysis is a count of diagnoses rather than unique hospitalisations, as it is possible for the same or different drug types to be represented multiple times within the same hospitalisation (for example, both acute poisoning related to opioids and an opioid use disorder may be recorded in the same hospitalisation).

This analysis revealed that there were almost 600,000 drug-related diagnoses recorded in the first 20 diagnosis codes across all hospitalisations in 2023–24, with around 146,000 (24%) of these representing the principal diagnosis.

Among these hospitalisations:

285,704 diagnoses related to alcohol, with 84,318 (30%) of these representing the principal diagnosis.
48,880 diagnoses related to cannabinoids, with 6,878 (14%) of these representing the principal diagnosis.
42,340 diagnoses related to methamphetamine, with 15,067 (36%) of these representing the principal diagnosis (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Drug-related diagnoses in hospitalisations across the first 20 diagnosis fields, selected drug types, 2023–24

Number

Per cent

Drug type	Principal diagnosis	Additional diagnoses
Alcohol	84318	201386
Cannabinoids	6878	42002
Methamphetamine	15067	27273
Opioids	5935	20021
Non-opioid analgesics	6091	5112
GHB	3674	4494
Benzodiazepines	3307	3026
Antidepressants	3032	3168
Cocaine	1322	4775
MDMA	493	1322
Hallucinogens	392	1097

Drug type	Principal diagnosis	Additional diagnoses
Alcohol	29.5%	70.5%
Cannabinoids	14.1%	85.9%
Methamphetamine	35.6%	64.4%
Opioids	22.9%	77.1%
Non-opioid analgesics	54.4%	45.6%
GHB	45%	55%
Benzodiazepines	52.2%	47.8%
Antidepressants	48.9%	51.1%
Cocaine	21.7%	78.3%
MDMA	27.2%	72.8%
Hallucinogens	26.3%	73.7%

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database 2023–24

Do alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations vary by geographic area?

Rates of alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisation are typically higher in more remote areas of Australia and are concentrated in areas of greater socioeconomic disadvantage, but this varies by drug type (Table NHMD5; Chrzanowska et al. 2025).

Detailed information on alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations by geographic area in this report is available in State and territory data, Remoteness areas and Socioeconomic areas.

Where do I go for more information?

References Expand

AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2018) Drug related hospitalisations, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 18 August 2021.

AIHW (2025) Admitted patient care, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 26 September 2025.

Chrzanowska A, Man N, Sutherland R, Degenhardt L and Peacock A (2025) Trends in drug-related hospitalisations in Australia, 2003–2023, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW Sydney, accessed 22 September 2025.

Alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations

Citation

Health and harms

Treatment

Harm reduction

Population groups

Introduction

Key findings

What data sources are available?

How many alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations are there in Australia?

Figure 1: Hospitalisations with a drug-related principal diagnosis, 2015–16 to 2023–24

Who is most likely to be involved in alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations?

Figure 2: Hospitalisations with a drug-related principal diagnosis, by age and sex, 2015–16 to 2023–24

What care do people receive in hospital?

What drugs are most likely to be involved in hospitalisations?

Figure 3: Hospitalisations with a drug-related principal diagnosis (excluding alcohol), by drug type, 2015–16 to 2023–24

Drug involvement across principal and additional diagnoses

Figure 4: Drug-related diagnoses in hospitalisations across the first 20 diagnosis fields, selected drug types, 2023–24

Do alcohol and other drug-related hospitalisations vary by geographic area?

Where do I go for more information?

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