🇦🇺 Australia vs the World: The Drug & Alcohol Stats That Might Surprise You
Think you know what everyone your age is doing?
Think again.
Social media, parties, music and movies can make drinking, vaping and drug use seem like they're just a normal part of growing up.
But when you look at the actual numbers, the picture is a lot more complicated.
Here are some of the stats about Australia that might surprise you. 👇
🚬 Plot twist: Australians don't smoke as much as you might think
You might assume smoking is still super common.
Actually, Australia has one of the lowest daily smoking rates in the OECD.
Only 8.5% of Australians aged 15+ were daily smokers, compared with an OECD average of 14.8%.
That's less than 1 in 10 people.
So if it feels like "everyone" smokes, the numbers tell a different story.
Reality check: What looks normal on social media or in a particular group isn't necessarily what's normal across the whole population.
💨 But vaping? That's another story.
Here's where things get interesting.
In 2022–23, 5.7% of Australians aged 15+ regularly used e-cigarettes.
The OECD average was 4.8%.
So Australia's rate was higher than the OECD average.
Vapes can look harmless because they're colourful, easy to carry and often marketed around flavours and lifestyle.
But popularity ≠ harmlessness.
Something being everywhere doesn't automatically make it safe.
🍺 Australia + alcohol = complicated
Australians have a reputation for enjoying a drink.
The numbers back up part of that stereotype.
In 2023–24, there were 9.8 litres of pure alcohol available for consumption per person aged 15+ in Australia.
The OECD average was 8.4 litres.
⚠️ Important: this doesn't mean every Australian drinks 9.8 litres. It's a population-level measure of alcohol available for consumption.
Still, Australia's figure was higher than the OECD average.
So maybe the bigger question isn't: "Does everyone drink?"
It's: "Why can it sometimes feel like everyone drinks?"
🌿 Cannabis is everywhere… but that doesn't mean it's risk-free
Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug in Australia.
And we're definitely not alone.
Worldwide, an estimated 244 million people aged 15–64 used cannabis in 2023.
That's huge.
But there's another number worth knowing:
Around 1 in 10 people who used cannabis developed cannabis use disorder, according to the international estimates reported by the AIHW.
So when someone says:
"Everyone does it."
That's not really the whole story. Lots of people don't use it.
And for people who do, the experience and risks aren't necessarily the same.
⚡ Here's one that might REALLY surprise you
Australia has relatively high stimulant consumption compared with many other countries. Researchers can actually analyse wastewater to estimate how much of certain drugs are being consumed. Think of it as getting a snapshot of what a whole community is consuming.
Between March and May 2024, Australia had the 5th-highest average total stimulant consumption among 36 countries included in the comparison.
And for methylamphetamine? 🇦🇺 Australia ranked 2nd out of 34 countries, behind the United States. That sounds dramatic — but there's an important catch.
It doesn't mean 54 out of every 1,000 Australians were taking stimulants.
Wastewater testing estimates the total amount of drugs consumed across a population. It can't tell researchers exactly how many individual people used them.
Still, it gives researchers a useful way to compare countries.
🤯 So… are Australians "worse" than everyone else?
Not really.
The data doesn't give us a simple "Australia = good" or "Australia = bad" answer.
It's much more interesting than that.
🇦🇺 Australia's international picture:
🚬 Smoking: Relatively low compared with other OECD countries.
💨 Vaping: Above the OECD average.
🍺 Alcohol: Above the OECD average for alcohol available per person.
🌿 Cannabis: Australia's most commonly used illicit drug.
⚡ Stimulants: Australia has relatively high estimated consumption compared with the countries included in the wastewater comparison.
🧠 The biggest takeaway?
Don't confuse "I see it everywhere" with "everyone is doing it."
Your feed isn't a scientific survey.
Your friendship group isn't the entire country.
And a party isn't the world.
Real-world data can tell us something that social media can't:
What actually looks normal across millions of people.
Knowing the facts doesn't tell you what choices to make.
It just gives you more information before you make them.
And honestly, that's pretty useful.
📊 Want to see the data for yourself?
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare regularly publishes data comparing Australia's alcohol, tobacco and other drug use with other countries.
Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), Alcohol, tobacco & other drugs in Australia — International data.
Note: International comparisons use data from different countries and years, and measures can vary between datasets. The AIHW provides methodological information alongside the statistics.
