2012’s per capita alcohol consumption down again

Alcohol consumption here declined by 0.5% last year and based on revised population figures, by 12.5% between 2007 and 2012.

New figures from the Revenue Commissioners show that alcohol consumption in Ireland declined again in 2012 thus continuing a trend of falling consumption levels evident since 2001 according to a paper commissioned by the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland just released.

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Alcohol consumption here declined by 0.5% last year and based on revised population figures, by 12.5% between 2007 and 2012. It has fallen by 19.1% since consumption levels peaked in 2001.

The current average consumption levels are 11.681 litres of alcohol per adult per annum, a decrease on last year’s figure of 11.743 lpa.

In 2001 this figure stood at 14.44.

The DIGI paper, authored by Anthony Foley of Dublin City University Business School, used data from the CSO Population and Migration Estimates for April 2012 (September 2012) and the Revenue Commissioners’ alcohol clearances data (the 2012 figures were made available only this month). Anthony Foley’s paper also includes a revision of previous consumption estimates based on the revised CSO population statistics.

“Consumption of alcohol in Ireland has been declining for over a decade,” pointed out DIGI’s new Chairman Peter O’Brien, “Weakness in the domestic economy and the continued pressure on discretionary income are clearly having a negative effect on the drinks sector. In addition there has been a substantial social shift in many areas leading to reduced alcohol consumption; increasingly we are seeing people opting to dine out and people are choosing to enjoy alcohol as an accompaniment to food. Education initiatives like the drinkeaware.ie programme have been responsible for promoting the responsible use of alcohol while at the same time challenging anti-social drinking behaviours.”

Anthony Foley added, “The paper has two objectives: to calculate the 2012 level of average per adult consumption of alcohol and to present revised estimates for the period since 2007 based on the revised CSO population estimates for those years. The level and trend in average alcohol consumption are important elements in policy evaluation and design”.

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