Australia's mothers and babies

The consumption of alcohol is widespread within Australia and entwined with many social and cultural activities. Alcohol consumption in pregnancy can lead to poorer perinatal outcomes including low birthweight, being small for gestational age, pre-term birth and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) (NHMRC 2020).

FASD refers to a range of adverse physical, learning, and behavioural effects after exposure to alcohol during pregnancy, with issues occurring into childhood and adult life (NHMRC 2020).

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) advises that women who are pregnant or planning a pregnancy should not drink alcohol (NHMRC 2020). Support to address alcohol consumption is widely available through antenatal clinics.

Data on maternal consumption of alcohol during pregnancy were available in the National Perinatal Data Collection for the first time in 2019, and for 7 of 8 jurisdictions in 2020. Data exclude New South Wales.

Between 2020 and 2023, most women reported they did not consume alcohol during their pregnancy with:

• 2.3-2.6% of women consuming alcohol in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy
• 0.5-0.8% of women consuming alcohol after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

In 2023, a higher proportion of women reported consuming alcohol in the first 20 weeks than after 20 weeks of pregnancy (2.4% and 0.5%, respectively).

Figure 1 presents trend data on alcohol consumption status of women in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy and after 20 weeks of pregnancy, by selected maternal characteristics, between 2020 and 2023. Select the ‘Current data’ button to view 2023 data.

In 2023, women were more likely to report consuming alcohol in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy if they:

• lived in Remote (4.0%) or Very remote (7.6%) areas
• were aged under 20 (5.5%).

However, women from these population groups showed a decline in alcohol consumption after 20 weeks of pregnancy with:

• 1.5% of women who lived in Remote areas and 3.6% women who lived in Very remote areas consuming alcohol
• 1.3% of mothers aged under 20.

Some women may consume alcohol before they know they are pregnant and stop once they find out they are pregnant. Based on data from the 2022–2023 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, almost 2 in 3 women (64%) who were pregnant but did not know they were pregnant at some period in the previous 12 months reported consuming alcohol before learning of their pregnancy (AIHW 2022). After they became aware of their pregnancy, women were much less likely to consume alcohol (15%).

References

AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2024) National drug strategy household survey 2022-2023, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 24 May 2024.

NHMRC (National Health and Medical Research Council) (2020) Australian guidelines to reduce health risks from drinking alcohol, NHMRC, Australian Government, accessed 18 January 2021.