Alcohol Statistics

What proportion of young people use alcohol?
Are males or females more likely to use alcohol?
Which provinces have the highest and lowest rates of use?

Check out these statistics for the answers.

Heavy Weekly Alcohol Use
Less than 10% of teens aged 15-19 reported heavy weekly alcohol use.

Heavy Monthly Alcohol Use
Over 30% of young people aged 15-19 reported heavy monthly alcohol use.

Heavy monthly alcohol use by province
The highest rates of heavy monthly alcohol use for young people aged 15-24 were reported in Nova Scotia, and the lowest rates were reported in Saskatchewan.

Exceeding low risk drinking guidelines
Over 20% of young people exceeded low risk drinking guidelines.

Exceeding low risk drinking guidelines, by province
The highest rates of young people aged 15-24 exceeding low risk drinking guidelines were reported in Nova Scotia, and the lowest rates were reported in British Columbia.

Definitions and details

"Heavy weekly alcohol use" is defined as having five drinks or more on a single occasion for men, and four or more drinks on a single occasion for women at least once a week.

"Heavy monthly alcohol use" is defined as having five drinks or more on a single occasion for men, and four or more drinks on a single occasion for women at least once a month.

The low risk drinking guidelines were developed for adults of legal drinking age.

These statistics reflect the situation in Canada from December 2003 to April 2004.