Australia and the United States are both among the wealthiest, most beer-friendly nations on earth, yet their alcohol cultures have taken different paths. Australians drink more per person, pour more pints, and pay far more per drink. Americans have a significantly higher death toll from alcohol-attributable causes. Meanwhile, both countries are watching beer’s dominance erode and non-alcoholic alternatives quietly surge.
Here are some quick stats to frame the comparison:
1. Australians drink 10% more pure alcohol per capita than Americans: 10.5 litres versus 9.5 litres a year.
(Source: OECD, Health at a Glance 2025)
According to the OECD’s most recent comparative data, adults aged 15 and older in Australia consumed an average of 10.5 litres of pure alcohol in 2023, compared with 9.5 litres for Americans, a full litre more per person per year. Both countries exceed the OECD average of 8.5 litres, but Australia sits significantly further above it. To put 10.5 litres in perspective, that’s roughly the equivalent of 590 standard Australian drinks, or about 11 drinks per week for every adult in the country.
Australia’s consumption figure is, however, trending downward. More recent national data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) shows that the amount of alcohol available per person fell from 10.9 litres in 2020–21 to 9.8 litres in 2023–24, the largest year-on-year decrease since records began in 1960.
2. Australians drink about 5% more beer per capita than Americans: 73.5 litres versus roughly 70 litres annually.
(Source: AIHW, Alcohol Available for Consumption in Australia and NIAAA Surveillance Report #121)
In 2023–24, the equivalent of 73.5 litres of beer per person was available for consumption in Australia, translating to 3.1 litres of pure alcohol from beer per capita. In the United States, the NIAAA’s most recent surveillance data puts beer consumption at approximately 70 litres per capita, ranking the US 26th globally. Australia ranks consistently higher than the US in international per-capita beer rankings.
The composition of what’s being drunk is shifting in both countries. In Australia, beer accounts for 32% of all pure alcohol consumed, behind wine (42%) and ahead of spirits (23%). In the US, spirits crossed a historic threshold in 2022, surpassing beer in per-capita ethanol consumption for the first time since 1969. The same premiumisation trend is reshaping the Australian market.
3. 77% of Australians drank in the past year, about 10 percentage points more than the 67% of Americans who did.
(Source: AIHW, National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2022–23 and NIAAA, Alcohol Use in the United States)
The AIHW’s 2022–23 National Drug Strategy Household Survey found that 77% of Australians aged 14 and over consumed alcohol in the previous year. The NIAAA reports that 66.5% of American adults aged 18 and older drank in the past year. The 10-point gap is significant: Australia has a broader drinking base, with fewer abstainers as a share of the population. In Australia, around 1 in 3 of those who drank did so in ways that put their health at risk. Despite the higher prevalence, a long-term decline is underway among young Australians: the proportion of 14–17-year-olds choosing not to drink at all rose from 39% in 2007 to 73% by 2019.
4. Nearly 1 in 5 Americans binge-drinks every month. Australia’s “risky drinking” rate is higher still at 31% of the adult population.
(Source: SAMHSA, 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health and AIHW, Risky Alcohol Consumption)
In 2023, 21.7% of Americans aged 12 and older (about 61.4 million people) reported binge drinking in the past month, defined as 5 or more drinks on a single occasion for men, or 4 or more for women. Australia uses a different metric: the AIHW classifies “risky drinking” as consuming more than 10 standard drinks per week on average, or more than 4 drinks on a single occasion at least monthly. By that measure, 31% of Australians aged 14 and over, some 6.6 million people, were drinking at risky levels in 2022–23.
The two definitions are not directly comparable, but both reflect a substantial population drinking in ways that carry serious health risks. One striking data point they share: young adults aged 18–24 are the heaviest-drinking cohort in both countries.
5. Excessive alcohol kills roughly 178,000 Americans a year, a rate more than double Australia’s.
(Source: CDC MMWR, Deaths from Excessive Alcohol Use, United States 2016–2021)
The CDC reported that during 2020–2021, an average of 178,307 Americans died annually from excessive alcohol use, a 29.3% increase from 137,927 during 2016–2017, driven in part by the COVID-19 pandemic. The age-standardised death rate was 47.6 per 100,000 population. Among adults aged 20 to 49, one in five deaths was attributed to excessive alcohol. Every day, an estimated 488 Americans die from alcohol-related causes. Those deaths shorten lives by an average of 24 years each.
During the pandemic, deaths directly caused by alcohol (as opposed to those only partially attributable) rose 25.5% in just one year, from 78,927 in 2019 to 99,017 in 2020.
6. Australia’s alcohol-attributable death rate is less than half the American rate, but rising, not falling.
(Source: National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University and FARE, Alcohol-Induced Deaths in Australia)
The most comprehensive Australian estimate comes from the National Drug Research Institute (NDRI), which calculated 5,219 alcohol-attributable deaths in 2017–18, a rate of approximately 20 per 100,000 population. That is less than half the US rate of 47.6 per 100,000. Using a narrower definition (deaths where alcohol was the direct underlying cause), Australia’s Bureau of Statistics recorded 1,742 alcohol-induced deaths in 2022, rising to 1,765 in preliminary 2024 data.
The trend line in Australia is moving in the wrong direction. The 2022 figure was the highest in over a decade, and the rate of 6.0 per 100,000 marked a 9.1% increase from the prior year. Males are more than twice as likely to die from alcohol as females (8.7 vs 3.4 per 100,000). The least socioeconomically advantaged Australians die at three times the rate of the most advantaged.
7. Alcohol-impaired driving kills 12,429 Americans a year, a per-capita rate nearly 6 times higher than Australia’s.
(Source: NHTSA, Drunk Driving 2023)
In 2023, 12,429 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in the United States, about one person every 42 minutes, representing 30% of all US traffic fatalities. The rate was 3.7 deaths per 100,000 population. In Australia, alcohol was implicated in roughly 12% of fatal crashes in 2023 against a total of 1,252 road deaths, translating to approximately 0.58 per 100,000 population, making the US rate nearly 6 times higher on a per-capita basis. Despite a year-over-year decline of 8%, drunk driving deaths remain 33% higher than in 2019, reflecting a pandemic-related surge that has not fully reversed. Two-thirds of those killed in drunk driving crashes involved a driver with a BAC of 0.15 or higher, nearly double the US legal limit of 0.08.
Across the US, 25% of children aged 14 and under killed in vehicle crashes in 2023 died in drunk-driving incidents. Motorcycle riders were the most affected group, with 26% of rider fatalities involving an alcohol-impaired driver.
8. Australia’s drink-driving death share has fallen to 12% of fatal crashes, but drug driving has surpassed it.
(Source: ITF/OECD, Road Safety Country Profile Australia 2024)
In Australia, alcohol’s contribution to fatal road crashes has trended steadily downward, from about 30% of crash fatalities in earlier decades to 12.1% in 2023, as measured by the share of drivers in fatal crashes who were above the legal limit of 0.05 BAC. Random breath testing conducted at scale (10.3 million tests in 2024, with a 0.6% positive rate) has driven much of this improvement.
The countertrend is drug driving: between 2010 and 2023, fatal crashes involving drug driving rose from 7.6% to 16.8% of all fatal incidents, surpassing drunk driving as the more common risk factor. Australia’s lower BAC limit (0.05 vs the US standard of 0.08) almost certainly contributes to the lower alcohol fatality rate, but enforcement differences also play a role. Most Australian states conduct random breath testing at roadside checkpoints. This practice is prohibited in 12 US states.
9. Alcohol costs Australia an estimated AUD $75 billion a year, more than double what the government earns from alcohol sales.
(Source: The George Institute for Global Health)
The most recent update by the George Institute for Global Health estimates Australia’s social cost of alcohol at AUD $72.9 billion in 2020–21, projected to reach $75 billion in 2022–23. The largest components are premature mortality ($29.1 billion), morbidity ($23.3 billion), and workplace costs ($4.5 billion). The 2017–18 baseline study by the National Drug Research Institute found that for every dollar of tangible cost, nearly three additional dollars were lost to intangible harms, including the value of years of life shortened by alcohol dependence.
Net government revenue from alcohol sales is dwarfed by these costs. In Australia, alcohol excise and sales revenue runs to roughly AUD $7–8 billion annually, while the social bill is ten times that amount.
10. Excessive alcohol costs the US economy $249 billion a year, about $2.05 per drink consumed.
(Source: CDC, Alcohol Facts and Statistics)
The CDC’s most comprehensive national estimate puts the economic cost of excessive alcohol use at $249 billion for 2010, the last year for which a full calculation has been published. Workplace productivity losses account for 72% of the total; criminal justice costs represent another 10%. Binge drinking alone drove 77% of total costs ($191 billion). Government bore 40% of those costs, over $100 billion.
Researchers note this is almost certainly an underestimate. Alcohol consumption is typically underreported in surveys, and pain and suffering costs were excluded from the model. Adjusting for inflation and the 29% increase in alcohol-attributable deaths since 2016, a current estimate would likely be considerably higher than $249 billion.
11. Australian households spend nearly 80% more on alcohol than American households: AUD $1,770 versus USD $637 a year.
(Source: AIHW, Alcohol Available for Consumption in Australia and BLS Consumer Expenditures 2023)
The AIHW reports that mean household spending on alcohol in Australia was AUD $1,770 ($34 per week) in 2023. Converted at prevailing exchange rates, that equates to roughly USD $1,150, about 80% more than the average American household’s $637, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey. Alcohol prices in Australia are significantly higher than in the US, driven by steep federal and state excise duties. Australian beer drinkers are effectively taxed far more heavily per drink than their American counterparts, as there is no equivalent of the US small-brewer excise discount that keeps American beer taxes low.
Australian household spending on alcohol has been declining since a 2021 peak of AUD $1,929, tracking the broader per-capita consumption decline.
12. The US has 9,796 craft breweries, more than 15 times Australia’s total, but the per-capita gap is narrowing.
(Source: Brewers Association, 2024 US Craft Brewing Industry Figures)
The American craft brewing industry counted 9,796 operating breweries in 2024, producing 23.1 million barrels and generating an estimated $28.8 billion in retail sales. It was, however, the first year since 2005 in which closures (529) outpaced openings (430), with overall craft volume falling 3.9%. On a per-capita basis, the US has roughly one craft brewery per 34,000 people.
Australia’s craft brewing sector is smaller in absolute terms but has followed a similar arc. The Independent Brewers Association counted 389 member breweries as of September 2024, with the broader industry estimated at around 600 total breweries, roughly one per 43,000 Australians. The first half of 2023 alone saw 35 Australian craft breweries enter insolvency, driven by rising input costs and on-premise visitation that remained 25% below pre-COVID levels. Craft beer’s share of the Australian market has nonetheless grown from 16.7% in 2019–20 to 20.3% in 2024–25.
13. Australia’s drinking age of 18 (three years lower than the US) is associated with measurably higher youth drinking rates.
(Source: AIHW, Young People’s Consumption of Alcohol and PMC, Longitudinal Consequences of Adolescent Alcohol Use)
Australia sets its minimum legal drinking age at 18, while the United States has maintained a uniform 21 since the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984. Research comparing similarly sized cohorts in Victoria (Australia) and Washington (USA) has found higher rates of alcohol initiation by age 15, more frequent binge drinking, and more alcohol-related harm among Australian youth. Around 42% of Australians aged 18–24 consume alcohol at risky levels.
In the US, the age-21 law is estimated to have prevented over 25,000 traffic deaths since the early 1980s, with drunk driving deaths among 16–20-year-olds falling 77%, the steepest improvement of any age group. A vocal cohort of Australian health researchers has argued for raising Australia’s drinking age to 21, though there is limited political appetite for the change. The good news: Australia’s youth are drinking less than previous generations. The proportion of 14–17-year-olds who abstain entirely rose from 39% in 2007 to 73% in 2019, a generational shift with no obvious parallel.
14. Alcohol use disorder affects 9.7% of Americans, versus approximately 6.5% of Australians.
(Source: NIAAA, Alcohol Use Disorder in the United States and PMC, Alcohol- and Drug-Use Disorders in Australia)
The 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 27.9 million Americans (9.7% of those aged 12 and older) had alcohol use disorder (AUD) in the past year. Men (12.9%) were significantly more affected than women (8.0%). Australia’s most commonly cited prevalence figure comes from the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing: approximately 6.5% of Australian adults met ICD-10 criteria for an alcohol use disorder in the past 12 months.
Despite this 3-point gap in prevalence, both countries share a treatment crisis. In the US, only about 7.8% of adults with AUD received any treatment. In Australia, the situation is arguably worse: only 30–48% of those who would seek and benefit from treatment actually receive it, and pharmacotherapy is prescribed in fewer than 5% of cases. In both countries, stigma and system barriers leave the majority of people with AUD without help.
15. Non-alcoholic beer surged 23% in the US and posted double-digit growth in Australia in 2023–24, the fastest-growing segment in both markets.
(Source: IWSR, No-Alc’s Crucial Role in Future US Beer Performance and IWSR, Growth of $4bn+ Expected from No-Alcohol Category by 2028)
IWSR reported that non-alcoholic beer volumes surged 23% in the US in 2024, continuing a five-year compound growth rate of the same magnitude. In Australia, the no-alcohol category achieved double-digit volume growth in 2023, with IWSR forecasting a 5% annual growth rate through 2028 as the market matures. Across the top 10 global no/low markets, which include both countries, 61 million consumers were recruited into the no-alcohol category between 2022 and 2024 alone.
Non-alcoholic beer accounts for the vast majority of the category in both countries, and the buyers skew younger: Gen Z and Millennials are the primary drivers of the trend, choosing to moderate rather than abstain entirely. In both the US and Australia, more than 75% of non-alcoholic beverage buyers also purchase alcoholic products, which suggests the trend is driven more by moderation than full abstinence.
Wrapping Up
The numbers reveal two high-income, beer-loving countries with meaningfully different drinking cultures. Australians are more likely to drink (77% versus 67%) and drink more per person (10.5 vs 9.5 litres of pure alcohol annually). They also pay substantially more for the privilege, with household alcohol spending running roughly 80% higher than the American average in US-dollar terms.
Yet when it comes to the most serious consequence, death, the US pulls dramatically ahead. America’s alcohol-attributable death rate is more than double Australia’s on a per-capita basis, driven by a higher rate of alcohol use disorder, worse drunk driving outcomes, and a healthcare system that leaves heavy drinkers without adequate support. Australia’s lower BAC limit, randomised breath testing, and universal healthcare access all appear to buffer some of the worst outcomes despite higher consumption.
The trajectories in both countries show cautious signs of improvement. Australia’s per-capita consumption has fallen sharply since 2020–21, youth drinking is at historic lows, and drink driving deaths are declining. In the US, the post-pandemic spike in alcohol deaths is beginning to ease. And in both markets, the fastest-growing beverage segment is the one with no alcohol in it at all. For more international context, see how the US compares to its nearest neighbour in our US vs Canada breakdown, or explore the US vs UK comparison for a transatlantic perspective.