Addiction in Australia: Key Statistics and What They Mean

Written by Holistic Recovery Bali. Medically reviewed by Nev Doidge, Clinical Director, NZ Level 7 AOD Practitioner & Social Worker. Last updated May 2026. Statistics sourced from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), the National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS), and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Addiction in Australia gets talked about often. Honestly, it usually gets talked about wrong. The headlines focus on whichever drug is having a moment. The political debate focuses on supply. The personal stories tend to focus on rock bottom.

What the data actually shows is something quieter and more useful. Substance use here is widespread but not always harmful. The biggest drivers of harm aren't always the substances making the news. And the gap between people who need help and people who actually get it is large enough to shape everything else.

This article pulls together the numbers most often cited in Australian addiction research, with sources for each one. If you're writing about this, working on policy, or just trying to understand how big the problem really is, the figures here are a useful place to start.

Key findings at a glance

Seven numbers that explain most of the Australian addiction picture.

About 4 in 5 Australians aged 14 and over drink alcohol in any given year. Roughly 1 in 4 drinks at levels above the national health guidelines (AIHW NDSHS, 2022–2023).

Around 1 in 6 Australians used an illicit drug in the past 12 months (AIHW NDSHS, 2022–2023).

Cannabis is the most-used illicit drug. About 1 in 9 Australians use it in any given year.

Methamphetamine use sits at around 1.4% of Australians aged 14 and over. The percentage is small, but the harm per user is among the highest of any substance (AIHW).

Pharmaceutical misuse — mostly opioid painkillers, benzodiazepines, and ADHD medications — affects roughly 4% of Australians a year.

Mental ill-health and substance use overlap heavily. Somewhere between 60 and 75% of people in addiction treatment also have a mental health condition (AIHW).

The treatment gap is the statistic that gets discussed least and matters most. The majority of Australians with a substance use disorder don't access treatment in any given year.

Alcohol: the most prevalent substance

Alcohol is the substance Australians use most, and by total harm, the one that causes the most damage. According to the latest National Drug Strategy Household Survey:

Between 77 and 80% of Australians 14 and over drink at least occasionally.

About 25% drink above the NHMRC guidelines for reducing lifetime risk of harm.

Roughly 1 in 4 Australian adults reports at least one heavy single-occasion drink (5 or more drinks in a sitting) every month.

Older Australians, 50 and above, now drink at higher rates and higher risk levels than younger cohorts. Teen drinking has been falling steadily for a decade.

Alcohol contributes to more than 5,000 deaths and around 100,000 hospitalisations in Australia each year (AIHW Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs in Australia).

Illicit drug use

Cannabis

Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit substance in Australia. About 11.5% of Australians 14 and over used it in the past year, and that rate roughly doubles among 18 to 24 year olds (AIHW NDSHS). Public attitudes have shifted significantly over the past decade. Today more Australians support decriminalisation than oppose it.

Methamphetamine

Methamphetamine is used by about 1.4% of Australians aged 14 and over in any given year. The number is small. The harm per user is large. In 2022–2023, methamphetamine accounted for a disproportionate share of drug-related hospital presentations and ambulance call-outs.

The picture also varies by region. Regional and remote Australia sees higher methamphetamine use, and significantly less access to treatment than metropolitan areas.

Cocaine

Cocaine use has risen sharply, especially in cities. About 4.5% of Australians 14 and over reported using cocaine in the past year. That's the highest level the NDSHS has recorded.

MDMA and party drugs

MDMA (ecstasy) use sits at around 2.5 to 3% annually. Use jumped during the post-pandemic return of festivals in 2022–2023.

Pharmaceutical misuse

This is the fastest-growing category of substance use in Australia, and the one most poorly captured by public conversation.

Opioid painkillers, including oxycodone, codeine combinations and tramadol, are misused by about 2.7% of Australians annually.

Benzodiazepines (Valium, Xanax, Temazepam) are misused by about 1.5%.

Pharmaceutical stimulants, particularly ADHD medications obtained outside a prescription, are an emerging concern. The trend is most visible among university students and professionals in high-pressure work.

Australia's opioid prescription rates are lower than the United States, but still among the highest in the OECD. The overdose death rate from pharmaceutical opioids now exceeds that from heroin (AIHW, ABS Causes of Death).

The mental health overlap

This is one of the most important features of Australian addiction. It's also one of the most under-reported.

Around 60 to 75% of people seeking specialist addiction treatment in Australia have a co-occurring mental health condition.

The most common co-occurring conditions are anxiety, depression, PTSD and ADHD. The relationship runs in both directions. Substance use can worsen mental health, and untreated mental health issues are a leading reason people start using in the first place. This is why programmes that treat both at once tend to outperform those that treat one in isolation. We've written about this in more depth in our piece on combining CBT and 9D Breathwork.

Despite the overlap, Australia's mental health and addiction services have historically run on separate tracks. Different referral pathways. Different funding streams. Sometimes different clinical languages. That fragmentation is well-documented in AIHW reports, the Productivity Commission's Mental Health Inquiry, and the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System.

The treatment gap

This is the number worth sitting with for a moment, because it shapes everything else.

In any given year, only around 20 to 30% of Australians with a substance use disorder access any form of formal treatment.

Some of the reasons are structural. Long waitlists. Geographic distance. Cost. Limited beds in residential rehab. Others are personal. Shame, stigma, fear of what happens at work or with family (we've written about how families navigate this), and the persistent belief that recovery should be possible without help.

AIHW data on Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services shows that demand consistently exceeds supply, especially for residential rehabilitation. Waitlists of 6 to 12 weeks for publicly funded beds are common. For Australians looking for timely, individualised treatment, private and international options have become a meaningful part of the picture. For Australians specifically, the early-release superannuation pathway is one of the most common ways treatment is funded outside the public system.

Demographics: who's affected

Age

Illicit drug use is concentrated in the 18 to 39 bracket and drops off sharply after 50. The exception is alcohol. Older Australians have the highest rates of long-term risky drinking.

Gender

Males have higher rates of use for almost every substance. The gap narrows among younger cohorts. Female pharmaceutical misuse is closer to parity with males than any other category.

Region

Regional and remote Australians experience higher rates of harmful alcohol use, methamphetamine use, and overdose mortality than metropolitan Australians. They also have less treatment infrastructure available.

Indigenous Australians

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians experience higher rates of substance-related harm, and significantly higher barriers to culturally appropriate treatment. AIHW publishes specific reports on Indigenous drug and alcohol use that should be consulted directly for current figures.

How Australia compares globally

Within the OECD, Australia sits:

Mid-high for alcohol consumption per capita.

High for cocaine and MDMA use relative to population.

Among the highest for pharmaceutical opioid prescription rates.

Mid for cannabis use.

Lower than the United States but higher than many European countries for overall illicit drug use prevalence.

Australia's overdose death rate is lower than the US, but it has risen sharply over the past two decades. It's now comparable to several Western European countries.

What the data actually tells us

A few patterns deserve more attention than they get.

Most substance use doesn't lead to dependence. The majority of Australians who drink alcohol or use cannabis don't develop a clinical disorder. The harm is concentrated in a smaller group of users with high consumption, high risk patterns, or underlying vulnerabilities (we've covered the science of this in our piece on understanding addiction).

Pharmaceutical misuse is growing while illicit use is plateauing or declining for several substances. Public conversation still focuses disproportionately on the latter.

Mental health and addiction can't be meaningfully separated in treatment design. A system that treats one without the other tends to fail at both.

The treatment gap is the single most consequential statistic. Whatever the prevalence numbers, what matters most is how many people with a problem actually get help. Right now, the answer is: nowhere near enough. For Australians considering their options, we've put together a complete guide to rehab in Bali covering programmes, costs, and what to expect.

Sources

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) — National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2022–2023. aihw.gov.au.

AIHW — Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs in Australia. Annual report. aihw.gov.au.

AIHW — Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services in Australia. Annual data set. aihw.gov.au.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) — Causes of Death, Australia. abs.gov.au.

Australian Bureau of Statistics — National Health Survey. abs.gov.au.

National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) — Australian Guidelines to Reduce Health Risks from Drinking Alcohol. nhmrc.gov.au.

Productivity Commission — Mental Health Inquiry Report. pc.gov.au.

Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System — Final Report. finalreport.rcvmhs.vic.gov.au.

All statistics in this article should be verified against the most recent published edition of the source report before citing or republishing. Australian addiction statistics are updated annually, and figures may have shifted since publication.

If you'd like to talk

If you or someone you love is among the Australians weighing whether it's time to seek help, we're happy to have a no-pressure conversation. Reach us via the contact form on our website, by WhatsApp on +62 811 388 04006, or on our Australia toll-free line: 1800 329 014. Everything is confidential.

If you're in crisis, please contact Lifeline Australia on 13 11 14, available 24 hours.

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About Holistic Recovery Bali

Holistic Recovery Bali is a private rehab and mental health centre in Bali, Indonesia. We work one client at a time, with an internationally qualified clinical team across counselling, addiction, and trauma. Programmes are personalised and run 28 to 60 days.

This article was medically reviewed by Nev Doidge, Clinical Director at Holistic Recovery Bali. Nev is a Qualified New Zealand Level 7 AOD Practitioner and Social Worker, accredited counsellor, DBT practitioner, and addiction specialist with two decades of clinical experience.