Impacts of COVID-19 on alcohol and other drug use
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic (DoH 2020c), social distancing measures were introduced in Australia in mid-March 2020 (DoH 2020a). These measures were extended in late March 2020 with all non-essential services ordered by the Australian Government to temporarily close. This included licensed liquor outlets such as pubs and clubs, excluding bottle shops attached to these venues (DoH 2020b).
As a result of these measures, it is expected that variations in sales and consumption of alcohol, drinking patterns and illicit drug use will have an impact on the Australian population (ADF 2020; Dietze & Peacock 2020). As such, the Australian Government announced in April 2020 that an additional $6 million would be allocated to online and phone support services for people experiencing drug and alcohol problems (Hunt 2020).
Restrictions eased in most jurisdictions over the mid-year period, with the exception of Victoria, which continued with lockdown measures into November 2020.
Data currently available in relation to the impact of COVID-19 on alcohol and other drug use are limited. Several studies have been undertaken or are underway, with the specific aim of assessing the impact of COVID-19, including research by the Australian National University (ANU) Social Research Centre, the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) and the University of New South Wales.
To date, no clear patterns of the effects of COVID-19 restrictions on alcohol and other drug consumption have emerged, with many people reporting unchanged levels of consumption. Longitudinal data now available suggest that participants in these surveys may have initially increased or decreased consumption, but then reversed that pattern of consumption at the next data collection point (Ritter et al. 2020).
Data sources are not directly comparable and care should be taken when interpreting data; see the Data Quality statement on each source for further information on collection time periods, sample selection and methods.
More information is available in the COVID-19 fact sheet.
Spending on alcohol
Commonwealth Bank of Australia – card spend data
Data from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia on weekly card spending found that although total spending on alcohol increased in March 2020, the pattern reversed in April 2020 (Commonwealth Bank of Australia 2020). The increase in spending in March may be due to the stockpiling of alcohol in response to concerns that bottle shops would be closed if tighter restrictions were introduced (G Aird 2020, pers. comm., 14 May).
Throughout the period May to early November 2020, CBA card spending on alcohol continued to be higher than in the same weekly period for the previous year. This increase was driven by spending on alcohol goods (such as bottle shops), while spending on alcohol services (such as pubs and clubs) saw a decline (Commonwealth Bank of Australia 2020).
The proportional change in total alcohol spending when compared with the same weekly period in the previous year has varied between 4% and 23% between May to November. Decreases in spending in pubs and clubs continue to be offset by increases in spending on alcohol goods (for example, bottle shops). Mid November saw an increase in spending on alcohol services for the first time since COVID-19 restrictions were introduced.
Total alcohol spending (compared to the same weekly period in the previous year) may be influenced by changes in restrictions. For example, the easing of restrictions in June 2020 (DoH 2020d) coincided with an increase in total alcohol spending while tighter restrictions being reinstated in Victoria during July 2020 (State Government of Victoria 2020) coincided with a decrease. There are several caveats to note when interpreting the Commonwealth Bank of Australia card spending data including:
- an increase in spending does not necessarily equate to an increase in consumption
- weekly data are volatile and as such comparisons are generally made to the same period in the previous year rather than week on week
- there has been a general increase in spending on cards compared with the previous year and this inflates the percentage change when comparing to the previous year (G Aird 2020, pers. comm., 14 May).
Please also refer to the section Data quality: Commonwealth Bank of Australia, CBA Card Spend.
Along with declines in the value of alcohol sales, leading alcohol producers and distributors have also reported declines in the volume of alcohol sold in April 2020 when compared with the previous year. The percentage change in the volume of alcohol sold ranged from 6.8% lower for wine to 61% lower for cider. While the volume of alcohol sold in the first 2 weeks of May 2020 had increased, the volume sold was still lower when compared with the same period in 2019 (ABA 2020).
Purchase and consumption of alcohol and other drugs
The results from several self-reported surveys have produced mixed findings with regard to the impact of COVID-19 on the consumption of alcohol and other drugs. Some examples of these findings are provided below. Please also refer to the Data quality section for information about these self-reported surveys.
The 34th ANUpoll collected information between 12–24 May 2020 from 3,219 respondents aged 18 years and over across Australia. Respondents were asked several specific questions related to changes in alcohol consumption during COVID-19 and about their consumption of tobacco and illicit drugs (Biddle et al. 2020).
With regard to changes in alcohol consumption:
- of those who reported that they drank at all (excluding those who said they never drink alcohol), a higher proportion of respondents reported that their alcohol consumption decreased since the spread of COVID-19 in Australia (27%, compared with 20% who said it had increased).
- a higher proportion of females reported that their alcohol consumption had increased (18.1% compared with 15.5% for males). Note: those who said that they never drink alcohol were included in this analysis as not having changed their alcohol consumption.
- of those who reported an increase in alcohol consumption, nearly half (46%) said that the increase was 1–2 standard drinks per week and 28% reported an increase of 3-4 standard drinks (Figure COVID1).
- The most common reason given for increased alcohol consumption was that the person is spending more time at home (67% for males and 64% for females). The next most common response for males was ‘Boredom, nothing else to do’ (49%) while for females it was ‘Increased stress’ (42%). Note, respondents were able to nominate more than one reason (Biddle et al. 2020).
Respondents were also asked how often, if at all, they currently smoked tobacco and whether their level of illicit drug use had increased. There was little change in the proportion of current smokers in the May 2020 sample—11.8% were current smokers compared with 12.2% who were current smokers when they were recruited to the panel. For respondents who used illicit drugs, more than one quarter (26%) reported a decrease in their consumption while 17.6% reported an increase (Biddle et al. 2020).