A snapshot of alcohol consumption levels in Canada: Half of Canadian adults reported not drinking any alcohol in the past seven days, 2023

In 2023, more than three-quarters (77%) of adults living in Canada's provinces reported drinking at least one alcoholic beverage in the past 12 months. To better understand regular drinking behaviour, the 2023 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) asked about alcohol use in the past seven days. Results show that in the seven days preceding the survey, 54% of people aged 18 and older, living in the provinces, reported not drinking any alcohol, 15% reported drinking one to two standard alcoholic drinks, 15% reported drinking three to six drinks and 15% reported drinking seven or more drinks (Table 1).

In 2023, the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction released Canada's Guidance on Alcohol and Health, which provides new evidence-based recommendations on alcohol consumption, to help Canadians make informed decisions about their health. The recommendations promote reducing alcohol consumption to reduce the risk of alcohol-related harms, and define four different risk zones based on the number of standard alcoholic drinks consumed per week. These zones represent a continuum of risk: no alcohol consumption (no risk of alcohol-related harms), one to two standard alcoholic drinks per week (low risk), three to six standard drinks per week (moderate risk), and seven or more standard drinks per week (increasingly high risk). This release explores the results of the CCHS in the context of this new guidance.