Wednesday, April 15, 2009

The Drinking 10 Percenters

According to the University of Victoria's Centre for Addiction Research, More than half of all the alcohol consumed in Canada is being downed by just a 10th of the population.

According to the CBC,Canadians consumed $18 billion in sales at beer and liquor stores in 2007. Not included here is the amount of liquor purchase at licensed establishments. 

That works out, for that 10 percent, to about $300 per person.($18bil/2)/3mil   

Yet according to that same CBC article, the average per person spent on alcohol in 2007 was $667. The CBC report does not define whether the 'per person' is spread across the entire population or just those persons legally permitted to purchase alcohol.

Obviously, alcohol sales in Canada is tightly regulated by the provincial governments to prevent underage Canadians from purchasing alcohol.

Statistics Canada likes to confuse the issue more and splits the census numbers at age 15. In my initial look at the 2006 census data, I was unable to determine the actual over 18, 19, population in
Canada. But assuming there are 21 million Canadians over the age of 15, if we deduct the 10% of Canadian that consume half the liquor, we end up with a per capita  purchase of of $500.
($18bil/2)/(21mil-3mil)

So, to conclude, most of us are buying a lot of drinks for the few.

Or the CBC is out to lunch. Drinks all around!

Or the CARBC have been drinking the MADD kool-aid.

Cheers!




 
 
 

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