Alcohol consumption in BC
In the most recent year of our BC Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Monitoring Project data (2022/23), BC recorded a decrease of 0.34L in age 15+ per capita ethanol consumption, down to 8.97L from 9.31L. The current total averages out to 526 standard drinks (SDs) per person over the age of 15 per year, including non-drinkers.
This continues a downward trend in consumption after record highs seen in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, where consumption was estimated at 9.4L, or 551 standard drinks, per person over 15. This decrease may be due to high inflation and other cost-of-living factors that affect both the cost of alcohol (see “Average alcohol prices over time,” below) and other goods and services.
While 2022/23 Statistics Canada estimates are not yet available, Statistics Canada also reported a national decrease from 8.3L in 2020/21 (or 487 SDs) to 8.1L (475 SDs) in 2021/22. Statistics Canada’s BC consumption numbers went from 9L in 2020/21 (528 SDs) to 8.9L in 2021/22 (522 SDs).
Our BC AOD Monitoring Project estimates show similar trends, but can provide more accurate data than Statistics Canada for a number of reasons:
- Estimates of U-Brew and U-Vin sales (i.e., home-produced alcohol) are included in the per capita consumption estimates
- More accurate estimates of the ethanol strength of typical alcoholic beverages are used (this is needed to do standard drink calculations)
- More up-to-date population estimates from BC Statistics are used (the population denominator is used to calculate per capita consumption)
Note that due to updated BC population estimates from BC Statistics, historic per capita consumption estimates have increased since last year’s update. Read more about our methodology.
You can view and download interactive maps and data tables of AOD alcohol consumption in BC (2002-2022, broken down by Health Authority, Health Service Delivery Area and Local Health Area, as well as venue and beverage type) via our AOD Trend Analyzer Tool.
Monthly consumption patterns
When we look at monthly consumption data by beverage type for 2022, some interesting trends appear. Summer months are most popular for beer and coolers, while spirits increase in the fall and actually surpass beer sales by October. Interestingly, Wine consumption remains mostly steady throughout the year.
When looking at monthly consumption data by venue, private liquor stores are consistently at the top. However in December, government liquor stores do see a large increase. Restaurants and bars also see a small increase in the summer months.
Note: The estimates provided for UBrew and UVin sales are approximate and are based on observed percentages of total consumption at the beginning of our time series.
Average alcohol prices over time
When looking at average retail prices of alcoholic beverages in BC over time, the trend appears to be going slightly upwards, with particularly large jumps since 2020/21. However, these are nominal prices, meaning they are not adjusted for inflation.
By contrast, when we adjust these prices for inflation, we see that the “real prices” in today’s dollars are declining.
Consumption by venue and venue density
While on-premise (bar and restaurant) alcohol consumption has rebounded to near pre-COVID levels, off-premise (private and government liquor stores) saw a decline.
Private liquor stores continue to be the most popular venue for British Columbians to buy alcohol in 2022/23, with 265 standard drinks (SDs) per capita (4.52L) purchased at private stores. This is a decrease from the all-time high of 303 SDs (5.16L) in 2020/21, but still higher than pre-COVID numbers. Over 50% of all alcohol sold in BC is purchased at a private liquor store.
Government liquor stores saw a small decline in 2022/23, down to 171 SDs (2.92L) from 189 SDs (3.23L) in 2021/22. Unlike private liquor stores, government store sales are slightly below pre-COVID numbers.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, BC loosened regulations and expanded services offered by off-premise alcohol outlets, particularly private liquor stores, including increased hours of operation, ramping up of home delivery options, and provincial funding for businesses to develop better online ordering options. Several of these relaxed regulations have now become permanent and likely contribute to the increasing privatization of BC’s liquor market. Our previous BC research shows how private liquor stores contribute to increased consumption and harm.
Annual age 15+ per capita consumption in 2022/23 was 37 SDs (0.61Ls) in restaurants and 36 SDs (0.61L) in bars. This puts restaurants and bars almost back at their pre-COVID levels. Overall, only about one in every 10 SDs consumed in BC was done so at an on-premise establishment like a restaurant or bar.
The estimates provided for UBrew and UVin sales are approximate and are based on observed percentages of total consumption at the beginning of our time series. Note that due to updated BC population estimates from BC Statistics, historic per capita consumption estimates have increased since last year’s update. Read more about our methodology.
Outlet density
The number of on premise outlets (restaurants and bars) per capita has rebounded after a large dip in 2020/21, likely due to COVID-related closures, and are almost back to pre-COVID levels.
When looking at the relationship between per capita outlet density and consumption, we see that off-premise liquor stores have a much lower density than restaurants and bars, but represent a much larger sale of the alcohol consumed in BC.
Note that due to updated BC population estimates from BC Statistics, historic per capita consumption estimates have increased since last year’s update. Read more about our methodology.
Consumption by beverage type
- Want to know how many standard drinks are in an alcohol container? Try our drink calculator.
When we look at consumption by beverage type, beer continues to be the beverage of choice at 180 standard drinks (SDs) per person aged 15+ (3.07L ethanol), although its share continues to fall, which is part of a long-term trend. Spirits are the only beverage category to increase this year to 164 SDs per person aged 15+ (2.79L), putting it almost at par with beer for the first time. Wine has fallen to 123 SDs (2.09L ) in 2022/23 and coolers also took a slight dip to 60 SDs (1.02L).
Note that due to updated BC population estimates from BC Statistics, historic per capita consumption estimates have increased since last year’s update. Read more about our methodology.
Consumption by region
Interior Health continues to have the highest levels of per-capita consumption in BC, with 781 standard drinks (SDs) per person aged 15+ (or 13.31L of ethanol), followed by Vancouver Island at 653 SDs (11.13L). Northern is at 636 SDs (10.84L), while Vancouver Coastal and Fraser were lowest, at 470 SDs (8.02L) and 381 SDs (6.49L) respectively. Interior Health consumes almost twice as much alcohol per capita as Fraser Health.
Consumption at the HSDA and LHA level may not be as accurate as at HA level, as estimates are based on the sales data that might be largely affected by tourists, liquor store locations and other factors. The estimates thus may not reflect real consumption, particularly in LHAs with small population sizes. Note that due to updated BC population estimates from BC Statistics, historic per capita consumption estimates have increased since last year’s update. Read more about our methodology.
For detailed interactive maps and historical consumption data, please visit our AOD Trend Analyzer tool.
As in the Health Authorities, there is a wide range of consumption rates across different Health Service Delivery Areas (HSDAs) in BC. The two HSDAs with the highest consumption rates in BC are both in Interior Health: East Kootenay at 820 standard drinks (SDs), or 113.98L of ethanol, and Okanagan at 805 SDs (13.73L). The HSDA with the lowest per capita consumption was Richmond with 262 SDs (4.46L) and Fraser North at 240 SDs (5.79L). Interestingly while Richmond was the HSDA with the lowest per capita consumption, it was once again one of the few that saw a small increase over 2021/22 (most other HSDAs went down slightly, reflecting the province-wide trend).
Consumption at the HSDA and LHA level may not be as accurate as at HA level, as estimates are based on the sales data that might be largely affected by tourists, liquor store locations and other factors. The estimates thus may not reflect real consumption, particularly in LHAs with small population sizes. Note that due to updated BC population estimates from BC Statistics, historic per capita consumption estimates have increased since last year’s update. Read more about our methodology.
For detailed interactive maps and historical consumption data, please visit our AOD Trend Analyzer tool.
For detailed interactive maps and historical consumption data, please visit our AOD Trend Analyzer tool.
Interior Health
South Okanagan is the Local Health Area (LHA) with the highest rate of per-capita sales in Interior Health for 2022/23: 1,507 standard drinks (SD) per person aged 15+, or 25.69L of ethanol. This is nearly three times the provincial average. Windermere is the second-highest in both BC and Okanagan Health at 1,352 SDs (23.06L). The LHA with the lowest rate was Armstrong/Spallumcheen at 479 SDs (8.57L) and the only LHA in Interior Health below the BC average of 526 SDs (8.97L).
Consumption at the HSDA and LHA level may not be as accurate as at the HA level, as estimates are based on the sales data that might be largely affected by tourists, liquor store locations and other factors. The estimates thus may not reflect real consumption, particularly in LHAs with small population sizes. Note that due to updated BC population estimates from BC Statistics, historic per capita consumption estimates have increased since last year’s update. Read more about our methodology.
For detailed interactive maps and historical consumption data, please visit our AOD Trend Analyzer tool.
Fraser Health
Hope had the highest per capita sales rate for any Local Health Area (LHA) in Fraser Health in 2022/23, at 962 standard drinks (SDs) per person aged 15+ (16.4L of ethanol). Surrey has the lowest per-capita sales rate in both Fraser Health and all of BC at 241 SDs (4.11L).
Consumption at the HSDA and LHA level may not be as accurate as at the HA level, as estimates are based on the sales data that might be largely affected by tourists, liquor store locations and other factors. The estimates thus may not reflect real consumption, particularly in LHAs with small population sizes. Note that due to updated BC population estimates from BC Statistics, historic per capita consumption estimates have increased since last year’s update. Read more about our methodology.
For detailed interactive maps and historical consumption data, please visit our AOD Trend Analyzer tool.
Vancouver Coastal Health
The Local Health Area (LHA) in Vancouver Coastal Health with the highest per-capita alcohol sales in 2022/23 was Howe Sound at 1,108 standard drinks (SDs) per person aged 15+, or 18.9L of ethanol. This was also an increase over 2021/22, when consumption was 17.56L. The LHA with the lowest rate in Vancouver Coastal was Vancouver-South at 252 SDs (3.96L).
Consumption at the HSDA and LHA level may not be as accurate as at the HA level, as estimates are based on the sales data that might be largely affected by tourists, liquor store locations and other factors. The estimates thus may not reflect real consumption, particularly in LHAs with small population sizes. Note that due to updated BC population estimates from BC Statistics, historic per capita consumption estimates have increased since last year’s update. Read more about our methodology.
For detailed interactive maps and historical consumption data, please visit our AOD Trend Analyzer tool.
Island Health
Cowichan Valley West was the Local Health Area (LHA) in Vancouver Island Health with the highest rate of alcohol sales in 2022/23 at 1,091 standard drinks (SDs) per person aged 15+, or 18.61L of ethanol. Cowichan Valley North had the lowest sales rate at 463 SDs (7.89L).
Consumption at the HSDA and LHA level may not be as accurate as at the HA level, as estimates are based on the sales data that might be largely affected by tourists, liquor store locations and other factors. The estimates thus may not reflect real consumption, particularly in LHAs with small population sizes. Note that due to updated BC population estimates from BC Statistics, historic per capita consumption estimates have increased since last year’s update. Read more about our methodology.
For detailed interactive maps and historical consumption data, please visit our AOD Trend Analyzer tool.
Northern Health
Snow Country was the Local Health Area (LHA) in Northern Health with the highest rate of per-capita alcohol sales in 2022/23 at 1,656 standard drinks (SDs) per person aged 15+ (or 28.24 of ethanol). This is three times the BC average of 526 SDs (8.97L), making it the highest rate of per-capita sales of any LHA in BC. However, it is located in between Nisga’a and Telegraph Creek, two LHAs that reported 0L of alcohol sales. The LHA with the lowest per-capita sales rate was Prince George at 545 SDs (9.29L), which was still above the BC average of 526 SDs.
Consumption at the HSDA and LHA level may not be as accurate as at the HA level, as estimates are based on the sales data that might be largely affected by tourists, liquor store locations and other factors. The estimates thus may not reflect real consumption, particularly in LHAs with small population sizes. Note that due to updated BC population estimates from BC Statistics, historic per capita consumption estimates have increased since last year’s update. Read more about our methodology.
For detailed interactive maps and historical consumption data, please visit our AOD Trend Analyzer tool.
Alcohol consumption in BC in early COVID months
We estimated per capita alcohol consumption using alcohol sales data from the British Columbia (BC) provided by the British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch (BCLDB) and the population data projected by BC Stats during the period from January to December 2012-2019 and January to July 2020.
Estimates were made of the monthly number of standard drinks (SD=17.05 mL or 13.45 g of pure alcohol) consumed per adult aged 15 years or older in total, by type of outlets (restaurant, bar, government liquor store and private liquor store) and type of alcoholic beverages (beer, cooler, spirit and wine) during the period from January to December 2012-2019 and January to July 2020. Given that the sales data here represents when the BCLDB sold wholesale products to outlets and not when someone purchased the product at a licensed establishment or liquor store, there is a delay between the sale to the outlet and the purchase by the individual consumer.
The above chart shows estimates of per capita monthly standard drinks of total alcohol consumption during the pandemic period from January to July 2020, January to December 2019 and average of per capita monthly standard drinks in 2012-2019. There have been seasonal changes in alcohol consumption in BC over years, with lowest consumption in January and February of every year, with peaks over the summer and in December. However, consumption during the pandemic in 2020 tended to have a different pattern. There was a marked increase in March, a slight decrease in April and gradually increased since May. This suggests an effect related to the pandemic and related restrictions declared by the provincial and federal governments. Further research is needed.
In July 2020, the most recent month for which we have sales data, alcohol consumption peaked at about 50 standard drinks per month for every person aged 15+ in BC, which is almost two drinks a day. According to the 2017 Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drug Survey, the current male and female drinkers accounted for 77.29% and 73.34% of population aged 15. Adding unrecorded alcohol consumption such as home-made to the estimates would further increase average consumption. Monthly alcohol consumption in BC in the first half of 2020 was mostly higher compared with previous years.
Consumption by BC Restart Phase
This figure shows per capita weekly 2020 consumption compared to that of 2019, with various Phases of BC’s Restart Plan marked. As we can see, the largest increase in consumption (over 40 percent) was immediately after Phase 1 in March (the first major lockdown) was announced, although it was also the phase with two weeks of the lowest consumption drops, likely due to stockpiling early on in the phase. However, overall consumption in this phase remained above 2019 levels, with slight dips in Phase 2 and the beginning of Phase 3, with consumption starting to go above 2019 levels by July.
Deseasonalized monthly consumption
This chart and all following figures all present ‘de-seasonalised’ data to see how monthly alcohol consumption compares with the levels typically seen previously for that time of year. This figure shows a peak of increased consumption during the lockdown in March 2020, followed by levels that were mostly equal to or higher than in 2019.
Consumption by venue
This figure presents the estimates of per capita monthly standard drinks by establishments (restaurant, bar, government liquor stores and private liquor stores) in January-July of 2020 and all of 2019. After removing the seasonality, we see that private liquor stores had the largest sales increase over 2019, with government stores seeing a small increase after a March bump. Sales at bars and restaurants declined during COVID-19, which is unsurprising given the closure of many on-premise venues at the beginning of the lockdown.
As lockdown measures were relaxed, in-person dining was allowed to resume and restaurants were allowed to sell take-away alcohol with food orders, restaurants and bars did see some sale increases over the summer, but only to about half of what they were during the same period in 2019. While both private and government liquor stores saw a large increase in sales at the beginning of the lockdown in March, the greatest increase in alcohol sales occurred for private liquor stores.
Private stores saw their sales peak in April (government stores saw their peak in March, which may be because data for government sales is point-of-sale, as opposed to when venues purchasing from the government wholesaler) and have remained well above their average for the same time period in 2019. This may be due to the fact that private stores have expanded services such as home deliveries, many of which require minimum order thresholds which could encourage bulk buying. Private stores were also permitted to change their operating hours from 7am-11pm, although it is unclear if many outlets have taken advantage of this. Alcohol delivery from liquor stores has also been increasingly available on food-delivery apps, but not for government liquor stores. Further research is needed.
Consumption by beverage type
This chart presents the estimates of per capita monthly standard drinks by types of alcoholic beverages (beer, cooler, spirit and wine) in January-July of 2020 and for all of 2019. Compared to monthly 2019 data, spirits and coolers showed the most consistent increase in sales, with wine and spirits experiencing a noticeable bump in March 2020 when lockdown orders came into effect (wine sales have varied slightly compared to the same monthly periods in 2019, but are seeing stronger sales overall). Beer sales have declined compared to 2019 since the COVID-19 pandemic hit.