Report reveals alcohol abuse yearly bill roughly twice previously thought

A new study has shown the cost of alcohol abuse on Australia’s economy is double the previous estimate, costing the country nearly $40 billion.

A report from La Trobe University is looking at the real cost of alcohol abuse.

Alcohol abuse is costing Australia nearly twice as much as previously thought because of harm caused to people associated with the drinker, according to a new study.

It has previously been estimated that alcohol-related issues drain $20bn from the economy annually, but a report from La Trobe University says the real figure is closer to $40bn.

Jason Jiang from the La Trobe Department of Public Health and Centre for Alcohol Policy Research said the previous figure came from just the harm to the drinker, health issues and such factors as drink-driving accidents.

“It didn’t take into account the harm caused to those around the drinker, due to all manner of factors such as being injured by a drunk driver or by alcohol-fuelled violence,” Dr Jiang said.

“There are various ways people are being affected by this that haven’t been noted or reached public knowledge.”

The study, published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, compares findings from a 2008 survey with data on hospitalisation, child protection services and crime from 2016.

It found that the 221 deaths and 13,374 hospitalisations due to alcohol-impaired drivers involved in road crashes in 2016 represented a cost of more than $457m to the Australian economy.

The study also estimated the cost of services in the child protection system related to an adult carer’s drinking were at least $1.6bn.

“We’re confident these figures reflect the yearly cost of nearly $20bn of alcohol consumption on the people around the drinker,” Dr Jiang said.

“The burden to others from drinking is of the same magnitude as the burden that drinker imposes on themselves.

“This part of the research has always been neglected, but now that we’ve quantified it we want to provide this strong research evidence to the government to help policymakers take action.”

Also included in the figures were what Dr Jiang called the “intangible” costs, where the wider society was impacted by factors such as productivity loss.

“The harm caused to others isn’t just physical, like going to hospital or seeking help from police or child protection services, but also from things like missed days of work due to taking care of drinkers. It can affect nearly everyone in various ways.”

Respondents surveyed who were harmed by others’ alcohol use reported significantly lower quality of life, which the study represents as an $8bn loss to the economy.

Dr Jiang called for the government to address the concerns of the report and tighten Australia’s alcohol regulations in line with the World Health Organisation’s alcohol and drug policy.

“We would want to look at increasing the price of alcohol and controlling availability, and controlling the number of liquor licences in an area or reducing the trading hours of venues.”