Excessive drinking has increased in Quebec: report

Quebec likes to drink: a new report from Quebec’s statistics bureau, l’Insititut de la Statistique du Québec, says more than eight in 10, or 83 per cent, of Quebecers aged 12 and over, consumed alcohol over the past 12 months.

The report looked at figures from 2009-2010.

In northern Quebec,

• seven in 10 said they regularly drank alcohol — slightly more than in the rest of Quebec ; and,

• more than two in 10 drinkers admitted to drinking excessively, that is, consuming five drinks on one occasion at least 12 times over the past year — 24.9 per cent, the second highest rate of excessive drinkers in Quebec after the Lower North Shore.

Excessive alcohol consumption has increased in Quebec over the years, researchers found.

In 2000-2001, 15 per cent of Quebecers aged 12 and over drank excessively, while that proportion stood at about one in five (18 per cent) overall in Quebec in 2009-2010.

“Although alcohol is the fifth risk factor for premature death and disability worldwide according to World Health Organization, in addition to being the main factor of risk of disease in North America, excessive alcohol consumption has increased in Quebec during the period analyzed,” they noted in the report.

While men are proportionally more likely than women to drink alcohol, they found that men are also more likely to drink on a regular basis.

Women are more likely to drink alcohol occasionally, that is, less than once per month.