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Since 1996, there has been a statistically significant increase in the proportion of secondary students surveyed reporting that they had not consumed alcohol in the week prior to the survey (1996: 70.9%; 2017: 90.3%). In 2017, males (89.4%) were no more likely than females (91.3%) to report not consuming alcohol in the last week.
The 2009 NHMRC Australian drinking guidelines recommend no alcohol consumption as the safest option for people under 18.
Please note that this indicator was updated in 2022 and replaces all previous versions.
The following estimates have a relative standard error between 25% and 50% and should be used with caution:
2017 males who consumed 6 or more alcoholic drinks
2014 and 2017 females who consumed 6 or more alcoholic drinks
For the purpose of reporting the Australian Secondary Students' Alcohol and Drug survey data on HealthStats, if the 95% confidence intervals of the estimates do not overlap, they are considered to be significantly different.