Publication Highlights

The National Alcohol Sales Data Project (NASDP) was developed in response to a 2007 Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy resolution that highlighted the absence of systematic and standardised alcohol sales data collections across Australian jurisdictions for the purpose of estimating alcohol consumption levels.

The aims of the project are to construct an ongoing, regularly updated, database of standardised alcohol sales data for all states/territories involved in collection; monitor alcohol consumption trends by regularly estimating per capita alcohol consumption by region for all states/territories involved in collection; continue to develop methods for improving accuracy of per capita alcohol consumption estimates; and encourage all states/territories to undertake alcohol sales data collection.

Stage five of the National Alcohol Sales Data Project reports per capita consumption estimates of 13.3 litres in the Northern Territory for 2011/12, 11.9 litres in Western Australia for 2011/12, and 11.0 litres in Queensland for 2012/13. Consumption in the Northern Territory continued to decrease, in Western Australia consumption decreased from the preceding year, and in Queensland consumption remained relatively stable. The report presents new regional data and data from previous reports at Statistical Area Level 3 to match the new geographical framework introduced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. In 2015, Victoria became the fifth jurisdiction to introduce an alcohol sales data collection (however data not available in time to be included).