How Much Alcohol Are Canadians Drinking in 2024?

Canada is no arranger to alcohol : Canadian are quenshing about 3 billion loyers of it every year, with wine and beer being the two most popular in a majority of provinces.

In this article, we take a look at alcohol consumption among Canadians, based on the most recent studies. How much alcohol are Canadians drinking? How much has it changed over the years?

Alcohol consumption in Canada in a nutshell

Between April 1, 2018, and March 31, 2019, people in Canada consumed more than 3 billion liters of alcohol, according to figures from the Canadian Health Association. This translates into around 9.5 standard drinks per week per person of legal drinking age. This places Canada 57th in per capita alcohol consumption. The proportion of Canadians who drink is declining, albeit slowly but steadily. No more than 75% of the population of legal drinking age consumes alcohol.

Alcohol consumption has varied by a few percentage points over the past two decades, with a noticeable decline nationwide around 2018, followed by a rebound by 2022.

While craft beer fans worry about a slump in consumption, Canada’s specialty wines are booming. Cider continues to climb, but only by modest margins. Meanwhile, spirits continue their quiet ascent. Overall, alcohol consumption has modestly increased by about one percent across all provinces.

Per capita consumption trends – 2004 to 2022

Source: Statistics Canada, based on information from the Institut national de santé du Québec

How much beer do Canadians Drink?

Beer remains the favorite, but not for everyone. The alcoholic beverage industry in Canada recorded sales of $23.6 billion during 2018-2019. Beer sales accounted for the biggest slice of the pie, at $9.4 billion (39.8%). In Quebec and British Columbia, the honor of most « drunk » alcohol, according to sales figures, went to wine. In the Northwest Territories, the top selling alcohols were spirits.

Newfoundland residents are the largest consumers of alcohol by volume per capita among Canadian provinces, with an average annual consumption of 90.6 liters of beer. The Yukon Territory, however, surpasses all provinces with an average consumption of 106.5 liters, marking it as the region with the highest alcohol consumption in Canada. British Columbia reports lower averages, with residents consuming 64.8 liters of beer annually, less than the national average and most other provinces.

How Much is Too Much?

Two opposing trends: on the one hand, excessive drinking practices are on the rise, but awareness of the dangers of alcohol is just as high. On the one hand, fewer people are lifting their elbows, but just as many, if not more, are drinking dangerously. Between 1996 and 2013, the proportion of excessive drinkers rose from 13.7% to 19.7%.

This increase was more pronounced among women, whose excessive consumption rates almost doubled from 6.9% to 13.8%, compared with a more modest increase among men from 20.8% to 25.7% (Bulloch et al., 2016). For the Institut national de santé publique du Québec, the increase in excessive consumption among women is put at 130%, rising from 10% to 23%.

Trends in alcohol consumption in Canada from 2008 to 2019, by age group

**Source**: Canadian Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CADS), 2019

While overall alcohol consumption among teens declined slightly from 1990 to 2006, there was a significant increase in cannabis use, indicating a shift in substance preferences among Canadian youth.

This may explain the dip in the orange line in the above chart. The range of alternatives to fermented beverages has also exploded in the last few years, including a new generation of energy drinks, revitalizing tonics, sodas in a variety of flavors, and a wide range of alcohol-free beers.

How Much Alchohol Are Canadians Drinking in 2024?

The impact of alcohol prices on consumption

The year 2022 saw the biggest rise in beer costs since 1991, with an increase of 5.8%. These increases varied from province to province. In Saskatchewan, increases in minimum alcohol prices appear to have significantly reduced alcohol consumption across all styles. Anecdotally, one in ten craft beer enthusiasts in a short survey by this website identified either quitting craft beer or quitting beer altogether during the past year due to high prices.

A 10% price increase led to significant decreases in consumption of beer (10.06%), spirits (5.87%), and wine (4.58%), with the most significant effects observed among high-strength beers and spirits. This suggests that pricing policies can indeed mitigate alcohol consumption and its harms.

Impact rix alcool sur la consommation Canada — Impact of alcohol prices on consumption Canada

Summary: Alcohol Market in Canada in 2024

Younger adults may be more health-conscious, but sources contradict each other on their actual consumption. It is clear, however, that there is a significant generational difference between those aged 60 and over and young adults. While the latter drink more frequently to excess, they also drink far less regularly than their elders. The increase in alcohol consumption among women also remains notable.

Ciders and specialty wines will attract consumers and therefore investors. However, market growth will continue to be undermined by the federal government’s lack of interest-flexible tax rates and interprovincial distribution. In Quebec alone, archaic laws weigh heavily on the growth of microbreweries, such as the requirement for a tax stamp on cans for bars and restaurants. That said, neighboring Ontario is set to liberalize beer distribution in 2026, after 100 hundred years of near monopoly by the Beer Store.

Sources

Canadian Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CADS): summary of results for 2019, Gouvernement of Canada
Dry February, you say?, Gouvernement of Canada
Alcool Consumption in Canada, Canadian Public Health Association, 2022
Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health: Final Report, Canadian Center on Use and Addiction, 2023
Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec, Portrait de la consommation d’alcool du Québec et au Canada
Directives de consommation d’alcool à faible risque du Canada, Gouvernement du Canada
Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec, Consommation d’alcool chez la population générale
Les microbrasseries du Québec unies contre le timbre fiscal, Le Temps d’une Bière
La bière de microbrasserie, oui, mais à quel prix? Le Temps d’une Bière

Pierre-Olivier Bussières is the Editor-in-Chief of Hoppy History and Uber Optimized. He is Sales Director at Uberflix Studio. He writes about travel, geopolitics, and alcohol markets, and has published articles in The Diplomat, Reflets, The Main, Go Nomad, Global Risk Insights, and Diplomatie.

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