Summary of main data sources used in this report
Data sources
The data presented in this report are sourced from a range of different data collections from several agencies and organisations, including the:
- Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)
- Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
- Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC)
- Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC)
- National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC).
Each of the data sources provide a part of the story of alcohol, tobacco and drug use. Data sources include a range of methodologies such as:
- General population surveys (e.g. the National Drug Strategy Household Survey)
- Surveys of sentinel populations (e.g. the Illicit Drug Reporting System, the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia program and the National Needle Syringe Program)
- Population consumption data (e.g. the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program and Apparent Consumption of Alcohol, Australia)
- Administrative data (e.g. Criminal Courts data).
Consolidating these data sources across multiple collections into one place provides a more complete story of current and emerging trends. However, it is also important to note methodological differences that can influence the comparability of results across collections (for example, see Technical notes: Comparison of national data sources on smoking and alcohol consumption).
The data contained in this report will be updated when more recent data become available. Further information about the data sources used in this report are available here.
| Data source | Frequency of publication | Information |
|---|---|---|
Annual | Estimates of apparent consumption of alcohol based on the availability of alcoholic beverages in Australia. | |
Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey | Every 6 years | Includes a range of health data including behavioural health risk factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption and illicit drug use for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. It combines the ABS National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS) with a National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (NATSINPAS) and a National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Measures Survey (NATSIHMS). |
Annual | Provides details on causes of death in Australia and demographics for all deaths registered in Australia annually. | |
Annual | People's experiences of a selected range of personal and household crimes | |
Annual | Defendants finalised by principal offences (broadly illicit drugs) | |
Every 3 years | Smoking rates, alcohol consumption and substance use, and links to other health issues | |
Every 3 years | Smoking rates and alcohol consumption | |
Every 4 years | The survey collected information about the nature and extent of violence experienced by men and women since the age of 15, including their experience of violence in the 12 months prior to the survey. | |
Annual | National statistics on all people remanded or sentenced to adult custodial corrective services | |
Annual | People proceeded against by police by principal offence (broadly illicit drugs) |
| Data source | Frequency of publication | Information |
|---|---|---|
Alcohol and other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set | Annual | Data on alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia |
| Alcohol-related injury: hospitalisations and deaths | Ad hoc | Data on alcohol-related and alcohol-induced hospitalisations and deaths to injuries |
Annual | The report includes data on the proportion of mothers’ smoking during pregnancy and babies born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy | |
Ad hoc | Data on the fatal and non-fatal burden of alcohol and illicit drug disorders on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders | |
Ad hoc | Data on the fatal and non-fatal burden of alcohol and illicit drug disorders on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders | |
Burden of disease: Impact and causes of illness and death in Australia | Every 3 years | Data on the fatal and non-fatal burden of alcohol and illicit drug disorders on population groups |
Every 3 years | Data on Alcohol, tobacco and other drug use in Australia | |
National Hospital Morbidity Database | Annual | Episode-level records from admitted patient morbidity data collection systems in Australian hospitals. The data set for the reference period 2021–22 includes records for admitted patient hospitalisations between 1 July 2021 and 30 June 2022. |
Annual | Data on records for deaths in Australia from 1964 | |
National Opioid Pharmacotherapy Statistical Annual Data Collection (NOPSAD) | Annual | The NOPSAD collection provides information on a snapshot day for clients receiving opioid pharmacotherapy treatment, the doctors prescribing opioid pharmacotherapy drugs, and the dosing points. |
Annual | Clients by need for services (alcohol and drug counselling) | |
Every 3 years | Data on tobacco use, illicit drug use and alcohol consumption prior and during prison sentence | |
Annual | Information about young people under youth justice supervision in Australia |
| Data source | Frequency of publication | Information |
|---|---|---|
Every 3 years | Lifetime and current use of tobacco, alcohol, analgesics, tranquilisers and illicit substances and related behaviours, 12–17 year olds. | |
Chapter 2. Trends in tobacco consumption in Tobacco in Australia: Facts and issues | As material becomes available | In particular, subsections:
|
Chapter 10. The tobacco industry in Australian society: Facts and issues | As material becomes available | Scollo & Bayly. 10.6.1 Value and volume of the Australian tobacco market |
| Data source | Frequency of publication | Information |
|---|---|---|
Ad hoc | Data on the human economic cost of drug abuse in Australia. | |
Drug use monitoring in Australia: Drug use among police detainees | Annual | Data on changes in alcohol and other drug consumption habits among Australian police detainees and through its monitoring and reporting of fluctuations in the illicit drug market |
Annual | Data from the National Homicide Monitoring Program on homicide incidents, victims and offenders in Australia. |
| Data source | Frequency of publication | Information |
|---|---|---|
Annual | National data on the illicit drug market, including arrests, detections, seizures, purity, profiling and price data. | |
3 times a year | The NWDMP measures the presence of 12 drugs (both licit and illicit) in samples obtained from wastewater treatment plants in capital city and regional sites across Australia. |
| Data source | Frequency of publication | Information |
|---|---|---|
Annual | A national illicit drug monitoring system with interviews with a sample of regular injecting drug users, interviews with experts and additional contextual information. The IDRS monitors the price, purity and availability of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, cannabis and other drugs. Along with trends in the use and harms of these drugs. | |
Annual | The Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS) is a national monitoring system for ecstasy and related drugs that is intended to identify emerging trends of local and national interest in the markets for these drugs. | |
Annual | A suite of products summarising trends in drug-induced deaths in Australia. | |
Annual | A suite of products summarising trends in drug-related hospitalisations in Australia. |
| Data source | Frequency of publication | Information |
|---|---|---|
Ad hoc | Non–random national sample 3,400 risky drinkers. The participants were recruited online and screened to check whether their qualified to be in the top 25% of risky drinkers. The survey looks into the risky drinking patterns of adolescents aged 14–19, by taking a ‘snapshot’ of the details of their most recent risky drinking occasion. |
| Data source | Frequency of publication | Information |
|---|---|---|
Australian Needle Syringe Program Survey National Data Report | Annual | The Australian Needle and Syringe Program Survey (ANSPS) provides serial point prevalence estimates of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies and sexual and injecting risk behaviour among people who inject drugs (PWID) in Australia. |
| Data source | Frequency of publication | Information |
|---|---|---|
Annual | Provides annual data on road fatalities and includes data on road trauma incidents involving alcohol |
| Data source | Frequency of publication | Information |
|---|---|---|
Annual | Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development includes prevalence of smoking and alcohol consumption by country, mortality and morbidity statistics and pharmaceuticals. | |
Annual | United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime data from a range of counties – includes supply, prevalence, price, and treatment data. |