Australia is officially the DRUNKEST country in the world – as survey finds they get plastered almost twice as much as anyone else on the planet.
A new survey has crowned Australians as the heaviest drinkers in the world, with Aussies getting drunk almost twice as many times during Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020.
Australians were among more than 32,000 participants from 22 countries who took part in the Global Drug Survey.
According to the findings unveiled this week, Australians got drunk an average 27 times in 2020, almost double the global average of 15.
Denmark and Sweden were the next biggest drinkers, with the average person getting drunk about 23.8 times a year.
Australians filled up their beer or wine glass with booze two days per week on average, the survey revealed.
It also found Australians regret their intoxication on 24 per cent of occasions – compared to the 21 per cent global average, with women more likely to regret getting drunk than men.
The Australian arm of the worldwide survey was led by RMIT University researcher Dr Monica Barratt, who believes extensive lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic contributed to Australia’s results.
‘This may have something to do with us being the highest-ranked country for frequency of getting drunk,’ she said.
‘Although we can also see drinking cultures play a role, with Nordic, British and North American nations also reporting relative high frequencies of drunken episodes.’
Kiwis were among the second less likely in the world to overindulge, getting drunk, 10.3 times a year on average, only ahead of Mexico at 8.9 times, but were among the most regretful about the times they did get drunk.
France leads the world for the average number of drinks consumed in a year, enjoying more than 132 glasses of booze, followed by New Zealand on 122, while Australians had 106 drinks per year on average.
