Drinking in New Zealand

Alcohol-related data from the New Zealand Health Survey (NZHS)

The New Zealand Health Survey (NZHS) is the largest annual survey into people's health health and well-being, and has been conducted by the Ministry of Health since 2011/12 (1). The below information provides a summary of the latest alcohol consumption data from the 2024/25 NZHS. All data is sourced from the online annual data explorer tool, which you can find here.

Drinking level	Total prevalence (%)	Men	Women
Past-year drinking	74.9% (3,250,000 people, or about three quarters of all adults)	78.8%	71%
Hazardous drinking	16.6% (722,000 people, or about one in every six adults)	21.9%	11.5%
Heavy episodic drinking at least monthly	17.6% (764,000 people, or about one in every five adults)	23.9%	11.5%
Heavy episodic drinking at least weekly	8.2% (355,000 people, or about one in every 12 adults)	11.5%	4.9%
Note: ‘Hazardous drinking’ definition - an established alcohol drinking pattern that causes a risk of harming the drinker’s physical or mental health, or having harmful social effects on the drinker or others. Measured using the World Health Organisation’s AUDIT checklist (and scoring 8 or more). ‘Heavy episodic drinking’ definition - consuming 6+ drinks on one occasion.

Key insights

The following subheadings provide key information in graphs. Please use the arrows to see insights by age, sex, ethnicity, and health region. If you’d like more information or have any questions please contact [email protected]

Past-year drinking

Hazardous drinking

Note

Most data are collected at respondents’ homes by researchers interviewing people and entering their responses directly into a laptop computer. A small number of interviews were also conducted using computer-assisted video interviewing. The survey is designed to yield an annual sample size of approximately 14,000 adults and 5,000 children in a typical year. Since 2019/20 the sample size has been smaller than usual due to ongoing disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic and Cyclone Gabrielle. The sample size for the 2024/25 survey year is approximately 9,000 adults and 3,000 children.

The 2024/25 results can also be viewed by the four New Zealand Health Regions - Northern, Te Manawa Taki, Central, and Te Waiponaumu. Click here for the methodology report.

References

1. Ministry of Health. New Zealand Health Survey Annual Data Explorer 2024/25 - Explore Indicators. 2025. https://minhealthnz.shinyapps.io/nz-health-survey-2024-25-annual-data-explorer/_w_bc56c69ed39d47519b6d88591d1d4487/#!/explore-indicators.

2. World Health Federation of Public Health Associations Indigenous Working Group. Supporting Effective Action To Prevent And Reduce Alcohol-Related Harm Among Indigenous Peoples Policy Position Statement. World Health Federation of Public Health Associations, 2025 https://kdrive.infomaniak.com/app/share/141741/8c4e56c4-6620-4c77-8095-e967707d8c8a/files/83300/preview/pdf/83301.

Learn more here


What we drink Read More...	Drinking in the past year Read More...	Trends in hazardous drinking Read More...


Drinking trends in adolescents Read More...	Drinking trends in older adults Read More...	Covid-19 and NZ drinking Read More...