A snapshot of alcohol consumption levels in Canada: Half of Canadian adults reported not drinking any alcohol in the past seven days, 2023
Released: 2024-10-02
In 2023, more than three-quarters (77%) of adults living in Canada's provinces reported drinking at least one alcoholic beverage in the past 12 months. To better understand regular drinking behaviour, the 2023 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) asked about alcohol use in the past seven days. Results show that in the seven days preceding the survey, 54% of people aged 18 and older, living in the provinces, reported not drinking any alcohol, 15% reported drinking one to two standard alcoholic drinks, 15% reported drinking three to six drinks and 15% reported drinking seven or more drinks (Table 1).
In 2023, the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction released Canada's Guidance on Alcohol and Health, which provides new evidence-based recommendations on alcohol consumption, to help Canadians make informed decisions about their health. The recommendations promote reducing alcohol consumption to reduce the risk of alcohol-related harms, and define four different risk zones based on the number of standard alcoholic drinks consumed per week. These zones represent a continuum of risk: no alcohol consumption (no risk of alcohol-related harms), one to two standard alcoholic drinks per week (low risk), three to six standard drinks per week (moderate risk), and seven or more standard drinks per week (increasingly high risk). This release explores the results of the CCHS in the context of this new guidance.
Alcohol consumption levels differ by gender, age group, province and area type
Previous data have shown that males drink more alcohol compared with females. Alcohol affects males and females in different ways, as females generally absorb alcohol faster than males, which can lead to higher blood alcohol levels for the same amount of alcohol consumed. In 2023, nearly twice as many men (20%) as women (11%) reported drinking seven or more drinks in the past seven days (Table 1), which is the level of alcohol consumption linked to the highest risk of alcohol-related harms. A similar proportion of men (15%) and women (16%) reported drinking one to two drinks in the past seven days, while 16% of men and 15% of women reported drinking three to six drinks in the past seven days. In terms of abstinence, a higher proportion of women (59%) reported not drinking any alcohol in the past seven days compared with men (49%).
Differences were observed in the alcohol consumption levels of the youngest adults, compared with the rest of the population. In 2023, a higher proportion of younger Canadians aged 18 to 22 reported not drinking any alcoholic beverages in the past seven days (67%) compared with those in all other age groups (for which the proportions varied from 51% to 57%) (Table 1). Furthermore, a lower proportion of those aged 18 to 22 reported drinking seven or more alcoholic drinks in the past seven days (8%) compared with those in the other age groups, where proportions ranged from 14% to 17%.
At the provincial level (Table 1), a higher proportion of those living in Quebec reported drinking seven or more standard alcoholic drinks in the past seven days (18%) compared with the national average (15%) in 2023. On the other hand, a lower proportion of those living in New Brunswick (12%), Ontario (14%), Saskatchewan (13%) and Alberta (14%) reported drinking seven or more drinks in the past seven days. In addition, a lower proportion of those living in Quebec reported not drinking any alcoholic drinks in the past seven days (47%) compared with the national average (54%), whereas a higher proportion of those living in Newfoundland and Labrador (58%), New Brunswick (60%), Ontario (58%), Manitoba (57%), Saskatchewan (59%) and Alberta (57%) reported not drinking any alcohol in the past seven days.
In 2023, about one in five (19%) residents living in rural areas in Canada reported drinking seven or more drinks in the past seven days, which was higher than those living in urban areas (14%) (Table 1). In addition, more than half (56%) of those living in urban areas reported not drinking any alcohol in the past seven days, which was higher compared with those living in rural areas (49%).
Canadians in the highest household income quintile consumed more alcohol in the past seven days
When looking at results by total household income, the CCHS 2023 data show a link between higher income and increased drinking, which is consistent with previous findings. Most notably, comparing those in the highest and lowest household income quintiles, 22% of those living in households in the highest household income quintile reported drinking seven or more standard alcoholic drinks in the past seven days, which was twice as high as those in the lowest household income quintile (11%) (Table 2). Among those in the lowest household income quintile, 67% reported not drinking any alcohol in the past seven days, which was higher than those in the highest income quintile, where 41% reported not drinking any alcohol.
Adults working in occupations in the arts and trades had the highest proportion of high-risk drinkers
When looking at the drinking habits of employed people, data from CCHS 2023 showed differences in weekly alcohol consumption by type of occupation. In fact, for people who reported working in health occupations, 10% reported drinking seven or more drinks in the past seven days, which was lower than for people in all other occupation categories (Table 2). In addition, 23% of people working in trades, transport and equipment operation, and 22% of people working in arts, culture, recreation and sports, reported drinking seven or more drinks in the past seven days, both of which were higher than the Canadian average (15%).
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Note to readers
This analysis is based on 2023 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) data, collected from January 3 to December 31, 2023. The sample is representative of the Canadian population aged 18 years and older living in the provinces. Sampling and collection for the annual CCHS used in this analysis is not designed to cover the entire population of the territories but will be covered when the combined CCHS data for 2023 and 2024 are released next year. The estimates in this analysis are based on self-reported alcohol consumption data collected from the CCHS. Respondents were asked if they drank any alcoholic beverages in the last seven days before the interview, and if so, how many drinks they had on each of the previous seven days. By taking the total number of drinks reported in the week for all respondents who drank, a crude estimate of the total number of drinks consumed in the year can be calculated. This can be done by multiplying the total drinks per week in the sample, weighted to represent the total drinks in the week for the population, by 52 weeks to scale up to the year. The total number of alcoholic drinks consumed, calculated in this way from the self-reported CCHS data, is about one-third of the amount from Statistics Canada's published alcohol sales data. This suggests that there is an underreporting in self-reported alcohol consumption, and as a result, caution should be used when interpreting this self-reported data.
Since the 2011 issuance of the Low-Risk Alcohol Guidelines, knowledge of the relationships between alcohol use and alcohol-related harms has evolved, and as a result, Canada's Guidance on Alcohol and Health (CGAH) provides the most up-to-date information about the risk factors associated with alcohol use. The CGAH states that not drinking any alcohol has the most benefits in terms of better health and sleep, as there are significant health risks associated to prolonged alcohol consumption. Furthermore, according to the CGAH, alcohol-related consequences are likely to be avoided if consuming one to two standard alcoholic drinks per week. Research continues to support that alcohol use is a risk factor for many diseases including dementia, at least seven types of cancer, as well as heart and liver diseases. Consuming three to six standard alcoholic drinks per week, according to the CGAH, increases the risk of developing cancers such as breast and colon cancer, and drinking seven or more drinks per week increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, with each additional drink increasing the risk of alcohol-related harm to oneself and others. The CGAH states that drinking less is encouraged to mitigate the potential risks associated with alcohol consumption, and also state that for those intending to drink alcohol, it is encouraged to not drink more than two standard drinks on one occasion.
Given that many Canadians refer to the Low-risk alcohol drinking guidelines - Canada.ca (LRDG), Tables 3 and 4 present the number of Canadians reporting a past-week alcohol consumption classified according to the LRDG framework.
Risk zone percentages were based on reported alcohol consumption in the seven days prior to the date of the interview. Respondents who had never consumed any alcohol in their lifetime and respondents who had not consumed alcohol in the past year were included in the "No risk" category.
A standard drink corresponds to a certain amount of pure alcohol and is equivalent to: 341 ml (12 oz) of 5% alcohol beer/cooler/cider/ready-to-drink beverage, or 142 ml (5 oz) of 12% alcohol wine, or 43 ml (1.5 oz) of 40% alcohol spirits (whisky, vodka, gin, etc.).
In the context of the CCHS, a standard drink refers to a small bottle, draft or can of beer/cider/cooler, a glass of wine, or a cocktail or glass containing 1.5 oz of liquor. Respondents are prompted to report the number of drinks consumed per day, and may not be accounting for different alcohol levels of the drinks they consumed.
Given that the non-binary population is small, data aggregation to a two-category gender variable is sometimes necessary to protect the confidentiality of responses. In these cases, individuals in the category "non-binary persons" are distributed into the other two gender categories and are denoted by the "+" symbol. As a result, the men+ category includes men (and/or boys), as well as some non-binary persons, and the women+ category includes women (and/or girls), as well as some non-binary persons.
The 2023 cycle of the CCHS included a strategic oversample to improve coverage (as part of the Data Disaggregation Action Plan) for racialized groups, Indigenous people, and persons with disabilities. While this analysis does not contain results for these populations (primarily owing to the need to delve into historical/cultural or other contexts for these groups as it pertains to alcohol consumption), the CCHS 2023 data is now available to aid researchers looking into health analysis for these populations.
In this release, when two estimates are stated to be different, this indicates that the difference was statistically significant at a 95% confidence level (p-value less than 5%).
Also available are two new datasets from the rapid response component of the CCHS, one on smoking (stages of change) and tobacco alternatives (January to December 2023 reference period), and the other on work-family balance (July to December 2023 reference period). Data for the rapid response were collected from respondents from all provinces. The first rapid response asked about alternative tobacco product use and cigarette smokers' intentions to quit. The rapid response on work-family balance included questions on work interference with family life, responsibilities, activities, and vice versa. The data are now available in the Research Data Centres.
For more information on survey definitions and methods, refer to the Statistics Canada survey information page: Canadian Community Health Survey.
Contact information
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