Distance to alcohol outlets and alcohol-related risks and harms for selected Australian states

In addition to the mapped measures, distance to closest alcohol outlet is another method of looking at access to alcohol outlets. Across small geographic areas (SA1) for selected Australian states in 2018, about 3 in 5 people (59%) are estimated to live within 1 kilometre by road of an alcohol outlet, and about 1 in 10 (10.5%) are estimated to live within 250 metres of an alcohol outlet (See Data tables Table S1).

For people living in Capital city areas, almost 2 in 3 (65%) are estimated to live within 1 kilometre by road network of an alcohol outlet and 1 in 8 (12%) within 250 metres, compared with 1 in 2 (49%) and 1 in 13 (7.7%) for Non-capital city areas (See Data tables Table S1).

Across the small geographic areas (SA2) included in the analysis there is wide variation in the distance between the population and the closest alcohol outlets, especially for Non-capital city areas. For some areas, the closest outlets were at the same location as people live. In city areas, the ground floor of apartment blocks can be shops and other commercial premises so some people will be living on top of alcohol outlets. The furthest distance to an alcohol outlet for a small geographic area (SA2) was 349 kilometres (See Data tables Table S4).

For information on the types of alcohol outlets included in the analysis, see Technical notes.

Australia is a country with a widely dispersed population that is distributed across vast distances. The populations of the areas vary from none to over 5,000 in an SA1 or over 40,000 in an SA2 (ABS 2016, Data tables Table S3). This wide variation is also reflected in the distances between populations and the closest alcohol outlets for small geographic areas (SA2) (Figure 1 and Data tables Table S4 and S5)

Across the 6 states in Australia in 2018, the median distance to an alcohol outlet estimated for the people living in small geographic areas (SA2) is 1.2 kilometres (Figure 1 and Data tables Table S4). Around 2 in 5 areas (40%) have an alcohol outlet within 1 kilometre and almost 1 in 10 (9.6%) areas have an alcohol outlet within 500 metres (See Data tables Table S5).

This varied between Capital city areas, and Non-capital city areas. 

  • For Capital city areas the median distance is 0.9 kilometres to the closest alcohol outlet by road (See Data tables Table S4). Over half of the areas (55%) have an alcohol outlet within 1 kilometre and about 1 in 7 (15%) are within 500 metres (See Data tables Table S5).
  • For Non-capital city areas the median is 1.8 kilometres to the closest alcohol outlet by road (See Data tables Table S4 ). Just over 1 in 5 areas (21%) have an alcohol outlet within 1 kilometre (See Data tables Table S5).

Figure 1: Distribution of distance to closest alcohol outlet by small geographic area (SA2), selected Australian states, 2018

The figure shows the distance to closest alcohol outlet for each SA2. The average and median are shown nationally (average: 3.4km, median: 1.2km), for Capital city areas (average: 1.3km, median: 0.9km), and for Non-capital city areas (average: 6.2km, median: 1.8km).

The figure shows the distance to closest alcohol outlet for each SA2. The average and median are shown nationally (average: 3.4km, median: 1.2km), for Capital city areas (average: 1.3km, median: 0.9km), and for Non-capital city areas (average: 6.2km, median: 1.8km).

Exploratory analysis of alcohol-related risks and harms in Capital city areas

Living close to alcohol outlets means people have greater access to buy alcohol which could put them at risk of drinking alcohol in ways that increase the risk of alcohol-related disease or injury, but it also increases their risk of alcohol-related social harms of crime, drink driving and violence due to the effect of everyone in their community having greater access to alcohol too.

There are many factors known to contribute to alcohol consumption, such as age and socioeconomic status and remoteness which are not controlled for in this analysis (see Limitations and future work).

The analysis of risky alcohol consumption and alcohol related harms is only discussed for Capital city areas. It is known that risky drinking and alcohol-related harms are higher in remote areas than in major cities in Australia (AIHW 2020 and AIHW 2024). Using the same analysis for Non-capital city areas was limited by the variation across Non-capital city areas in distance to the closest alcohol outlet, due to the vast distances between populations and alcohol outlets in some small geographic areas of Australia. This meant it was difficult to create relevant distance categories to summarise the data for statistical analyses. 

Findings for alcohol-related risks and harms in Capital city areas

People aged 14 and over, estimated to be living within 250 metres by road of an alcohol outlet in selected Capital city areas were more likely to report risky alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harms compared with people living further away in Capital city areas:

  • Over 1 in 3 (37%) drank alcohol in ways that increase the risk of alcohol-related disease or injury, compared with 26%–30% for people living further away.
  • 1 in 4 (25%) experienced harms from people under the influence of alcohol, reporting an incident like verbal or physical abuse from someone under the influence of alcohol, compared with 13%–22% for those living further away.

(see Figure 2 and Data tables Table S2). 

Risky alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harms are based on people aged 14 and over reporting risky drinking or experiencing an alcohol-related incident like verbal or physical abuse in the AIHW National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2019 (AIHW 2020).

Figure 2: Alcohol-related risks and harms by distance(a) to closest alcohol outlet, Capital city areas (SA1), 2019 (per cent).

The figures show the proportion of adults who drank in ways that increased the risk of alcohol-related injury (see box 1) or experienced alcohol-related incidents (verbal abuse, put in fear, physical abuse or any incident) in the previous 12 months, at ≤250m, >250m to ≤500m, >500m to ≤750m, >750m to ≤1km, >1km to ≤1.5km, >1.5km to ≤2km, >2km to ≤3km, >3km to ≤5km, or greater than 5km to the nearest alcohol outlet, for Capital city areas in selected Australian states. People living within 250 metres of an alcohol outlet in Capital city areas were more likely to have drunk alcohol in ways that increase the risk of alcohol-related disease or injury, and experienced an alcohol-related social harms (any incident, verbal abuse and put in fear) than those living further away.

The figures show the proportion of adults who drank in ways that increased the risk of alcohol-related injury (see box 1) or experienced alcohol-related incidents (verbal abuse, put in fear, physical abuse or any incident) in the previous 12 months, at ≤250m, >250m to ≤500m, >500m to ≤750m, >750m to ≤1km, >1km to ≤1.5km, >1.5km to ≤2km, >2km to ≤3km, >3km to ≤5km, or greater than 5km to the nearest alcohol outlet, for Capital city areas in selected Australian states. People living within 250 metres of an alcohol outlet in Capital city areas were more likely to have drunk alcohol in ways that increase the risk of alcohol-related disease or injury, and experienced an alcohol-related social harms (any incident, verbal abuse and put in fear) than those living further away.

References

AIHW (2020) National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2019, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 13 September 2024

AIHW (2024) National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2022–2023: Alcohol related harms and risks in the NDSHS, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 13 September 2024.

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