Alcohol consumption has risen significantly in BC in the past decade and at a faster rate than the rest of Canada. The BC AOD Monitoring Project can monitor the provincial alcohol consumption in BC more accurately than Statistics Canada because of the detailed local data utilized. Alcohol sales data presented here were obtained from the BC liquor distribution branch for government and private liquor stores, restaurants, and bars. Per adult alcohol consumption is a valuable indicator of the extent of alcohol related harm in a community.
Regional Differences
The highest estimates of alcohol consumption for 2008 were noted for the Interior Health Authority (12.40 litres per adult) followed by Vancouver Island (11.98), Northern (11.65), Vancouver Coastal (11.26), and Fraser (8.50) Health Authorities. Levels of alcohol consumption were also tracked for the 16 Health Service Delivery Areas. The highest alcohol consumption rate at the HSDA level was found in the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (North Shore/Coast Garibaldi, 14.50). The Health Service Delivery area with lowest consumption rate was also located in the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (Richmond, 5.35). Estimates have been reported for the much smaller Local Health Areas as well. However, estimated rates of alcohol consumption for the Local Health Areas have the greatest variation and are less reliable. They are best viewed as a measure of local rates of per capita alcohol sales rather than of consumption. For example, areas with many liquor outlets but few residents will have an exaggerated estimate of per adult alcohol consumption while areas with high numbers of residents and few liquor outlets would underestimate alcohol consumption. To see alcohol sales information for the Local Health Areas look under the "data tables" tab.
Time Trends
Per adult absolute (i.e., pure) alcohol consumption across BC has increased from 8.26 litres per person in 2002 to 9.18 in 2008. Per adult absolute alcohol consumption also continues to rise across most Health Authorities and Health Service Delivery areas.
Seasonality
Significant seasonal variation was previously identified in the data collected from 2002-2005, with pronounced peaks in summertime for beer and coolers and in the fall for wine and spirits. Identifying such seasonal trends is one unique advantage of using liquor sales data as opposed to self-report surveys in order to monitor alcohol consumption.
Privatization
In 2002, the number of private off premise sales outlets greatly increased and by 2005 sales from take-out government stores had declined, while sales from private stores had increased.
U-Brew / U-Vin / Home-Made
Alcohol sold through U-brew and U-Vin stores was estimated to account for 4% of total consumption.
Home brewed alcohol consumption was estimated from the Canadian Addiction Survey(2004) to be 4.3% of total absolute alcohol consumption. However, no place or time data are available to adjust this estimate for different parts of BC and therefore home-made alcohol has not been included in the estimates of alcohol consumption reported here.
Analysis of 2002-2005 data showed that adult consumption was significantly related to the age (i.e., being younger) and sex distributions (i.e., higher ratios of males) across the health authorities.
Alcohol Strength
Data analyzed for 2002-2005 showed that the typical alcoholic strength of wine and coolers sold from liquor stores in BC was higher than assumed by Statistics Canada (12.2% versus 11.5% for wine and 6.7% versus 5% for coolers). Considering that the range of wines and coolers sold in BC liquor stores is similar to what is sold in other parts of Canada, Statistics Canada is likely underestimating national alcohol consumption.