British Columbians drinking less booze: UVic study

“It is astounding to see this huge change from record highs to record lows in just a few short years," — CISUR director Dr.Tim Naimi. British Columbians are drinking less alcohol, according to the findings of a UVic study. Photo: Shutterstock

British Columbians aren’t partying like it’s 1999 anymore, according to the results of a UVic study on alcohol consumption, which found residents imbibed less in 2023/24—the last fiscal year for which statistics were available—than in any year since the turn of the millennium.

The per capita sale of booze in BC worked out to about 469 standard drinks per person aged 15+ per year (1.3 drinks per day), according to the University of Victoria’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR), which said that was a decrease to eight litres of pure alcohol consumed per capita from 8.82 litres.

The 9% drop is the largest single-year decline since the CISUR began tabulating these statistics and is 15% lower than the record highs established in 2020/21 when sales were at 550 standard drinks per capita, or 9.39 litres of pure alcohol per person per year.

“It is astounding to see this huge change from record highs to record lows in just a few short years,” CISUR director Dr. Tim Naimi said in a release.

“It’s been kind of a perfect storm of factors that have led to people buying less alcohol.”

According to the study’s authors, those factors include a population increase, taking into account that statistically, new Canadians drink less than established citizens. It’s also felt that rising prices due to inflation have curbed alcohol sales.

“In addition, we’ve also seen increased awareness of alcohol’s impacts on health, particularly here in Canada with the 2023 release of Canada’s Guidance of Alcohol and Health, so that may be having an impact,” Naimi said.

Drinking drop across the country, says StatsCan

The drop coincides with a historic reduction in the volume of alcohol sales across the country, according to Statistics Canada.

For the 2023 fiscal year—which ended March 31, 2024—and based on volume, nationwide sales of alcohol declined by 3.8% to 2,988 million litres—the largest volume decline recorded since StatsCan began tabulating sales in 1949.

On average, Canadians of legal drinking age purchased the equivalent of 8.7 standard alcoholic beverages per week (1.24 drinks per day) in 2023/2024, down from 9.2 (1.3 drinks per day) in the previous fiscal year.

Statistics Canada also said domestic products accounted for more than half of alcohol sales; the sale of beer dropped 4.5% nationally; wine sales fell 4.8% across the country; spirit sales dropped .5%; while the sale of ciders and coolers went up 6.9%.

Beer sales down, but suds are still on top

Despite the decline in suds sales—part of a long-term trend that has seen beer sales fall 30% since 2008/09, beer continues to be the beverage of choice at 160 standard drinks or 2.7 litres per person per year. They drink, on average, 106 standard glasses (or 1.8 litres) of wine annually.

When British Columbians drink booze, more than half the time, they’ve bought it from a private liquor store. Conversely, the study found that government store sales were at their lowest in 2023/24 since tracking began in 2001/02.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, BC loosened regulations and expanded the services offered by off-premise alcohol outlets, particularly private liquor stores. Longer operating hours and more home delivery options, as well as provincial funding of online services, have made private liquor stores all that much more popular with drinkers, the study said.

The study also found that when adjusted for inflation, the “real prices” charged for alcohol were actually 25% lower relative to other goods and services.

“This reduction in real price means that people are more likely to buy alcohol compared to a situation in which alcohol prices keep pace with inflation,” the study found.