Canadians knock back almost 10 alcoholic drinks per week

Canadians spent over CAD$25 billion on alcoholic beverages showing the largest increase in alcohol spending in a decade.

The leap in spending occurred during the year ending 31 March, 2021, representing a spending increase of 4.2% over the same period in 2019-20, according to a report from Statistics Canada via Abbotsford News.

The report showed that the equivalent of 9.7 standard alcoholic beverages a week were sold to each Canadian of legal drinking age, for a total of 3,180 million litres, up 2.1% from a year earlier.

“Most of the liquor authorities attributed this growth to the pandemic and its impact on purchasing habits,” the report explained, noting how, despite Canadians making fewer trips to liquor stores during 2020-21, statistics found that consumers purchased more during each visit.

Additionally, it outlined how more alcohol was sold locally, due to supply chain issues, and more was consumed outside bar and restaurant venues due to public health restrictions. According to the findings, inflation also accounted for part of the higher value of purchased liquor.

While beer remained the alcoholic drink of choice for Canadians in 2020-21, accounting for 36% of all purchases, wine followed swiftly behind accounting for 31.4% of total alcohol sales.