British Columbians are consuming less alcohol than they have since the turn of the millennium.
Mar 10, 2025 – the University of Victoria’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR)
British Columbians are consuming less alcohol than they have since the turn of the millennium.
According to new data from the University of Victoria’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR), per capita sales in BC were equivalent to 469 standard drinks per person over the age of 15 per year. That is a decrease of 0.82L of pure alcohol per capita (aged 15+). down to 8 L from 8.82L.
This 9% decrease is the largest single-year drop since CISUR started tracking this in 2001/02. Per capita sales have also fallen nearly 15 per cent since the record highs of 2020/21, where sales were at 550 standard drinks per capita, or 9.38L of pure alcohol.
“It is astounding to see this huge change from record highs to record lows in just a few short years,” says Dr. Tim Naimi, CISUR Director. “It’s been kind of a perfect storm of factors that have led to people buying less alcohol.”
One potential factor is that BC has seen significant population increases over the last few years. Paired with moderate decreases in overall alcohol sales, this has led to lower sales per capita, since new arrivals may drink less, particularly those coming from countries with lower consumption than Canada. Other factors may be increases in inflation and general costs of living have led to people spending less on alcohol.
“In addition, we’ve also seen increased awareness of alcohol’s impacts on health, particularly here in Canada with the 2023 release of Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health, so that may be having an impact” says Naimi.
Despite the steep and continued decline, British Columbians still consume an average of 9 standard drinks per week, which is about 50% more alcohol than suggested by Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health in order to fall in the moderate risk zones (defined as 3 to 6 drinks per week). It is also above the Canadian average of 8 standard drinks per week. “While this is great news for public health, there is still a long way to go”, said Naimi. In 2020, alcohol killed approximately 17,000 Canadians and cost Canada more than tobacco and opioids combined.
CISUR’s data follows similar patterns to new per-capita alcohol sales data released by Statistics Canada, which also reported significant decreases in both BC and Canada, calling it the largest decline they have seen since they started measuring alcohol sales in 1949.
To learn more about per capita alcohol sales by beverage type, venue, and regional differences across BC, visit our alcohol sales page. To explore the data on your own, visit our trend analyzer tool.
Visit the Victoria’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR) here….
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