Frequency of drinking in the past 12 months, by age group and sex, household population aged 12 and over who are current drinkers, Canada, 2003

Frequency  of drinking        Total Never 5 or more drinks on one occasion 5 or more drinks on one occasion, less than 12 times a year 5 or more drinks on one occasion, 12 or more times a year Drinking frequency, not stated
Number Number % Number % Number % Number %
2003  
Total, 12 years and over 20,723,896 10,727,036 51.8 5,010,291 24.2 4,285,535 20.7 701,034 3.4
Males 10,703,114 4,384,672 41.0 2,824,195 26.4 3,121,240 29.2 373,008 3.5
Females 10,020,781 6,342,365 63.3 2,186,096 21.8 1,164,295 11.6 328,025 3.3
12-19 years 1,746,201 693,770 39.7 516,130 29.6 464,455 26.6 71,846 4.1
Males 909,069 317,966 35.0 255,229 28.1 295,127 32.5 40,748 4.5
Females 837,132 375,804 44.9 260,901 31.2 169,329 20.2 31,098 3.7
12-14 years 260,120 182,723 70.2 41,369 15.9 11,054 E 4.2 E 24,973 9.6
Males 134,592 94,034 69.9 20,592 15.3 5,391 E 4.0 E 14,576 E 10.8 E
Females 125,528 88,689 70.7 20,778 16.6 5,664 E 4.5 E 10,398 E 8.3 E
15-19 years 1,486,081 511,047 34.4 474,760 31.9 453,401 30.5 46,873 3.2
Males 774,477 223,931 28.9 234,637 30.3 289,736 37.4 26,173 3.4
Females 711,604 287,116 40.3 240,123 33.7 163,665 23.0 20,700 2.9
20-34 years 5,506,455 1,814,513 33.0 1,798,704 32.7 1,737,035 31.5 156,203 2.8
Males 2,872,546 673,718 23.5 900,951 31.4 1,212,978 42.2 84,899 3.0
Females 2,633,909 1,140,795 43.3 897,753 34.1 524,057 19.9 71,304 2.7
20-24 years 1,917,849 448,920 23.4 615,037 32.1 793,688 41.4 60,204 3.1
Males 1,015,969 162,783 16.0 302,465 29.8 516,697 50.9 34,024 E 3.3 E
Females 901,880 286,137 31.7 312,572 34.7 276,991 30.7 26,180 E 2.9 E
25-34 years 3,588,606 1,365,593 38.1 1,183,666 33.0 943,347 26.3 95,999 2.7
Males 1,856,577 510,936 27.5 598,485 32.2 696,281 37.5 50,875 2.7
Females 1,732,029 854,657 49.3 585,181 33.8 247,066 14.3 45,124 2.6
35-44 years 4,497,784 2,197,351 48.9 1,226,611 27.3 938,700 20.9 135,123 3.0
Males 2,345,330 869,031 37.1 704,926 30.1 702,091 29.9 69,282 3.0
Females 2,152,454 1,328,320 61.7 521,685 24.2 236,609 11.0 65,841 3.1
45-64 years 6,392,205 3,896,356 61.0 1,282,972 20.1 1,007,395 15.8 205,482 3.2
Males 3,308,401 1,579,978 47.8 819,420 24.8 795,986 24.1 113,016 3.4
Females 3,083,804 2,316,379 75.1 463,551 15.0 211,408 6.9 92,466 3.0
45-54 years 3,800,419 2,158,598 56.8 846,204 22.3 667,765 17.6 127,852 3.4
Males 1,927,458 824,902 42.8 518,041 26.9 515,247 26.7 69,268 3.6
Females 1,872,961 1,333,696 71.2 328,163 17.5 152,517 8.1 58,584 3.1
55-64 years 2,591,785 1,737,758 67.0 436,767 16.9 339,630 13.1 77,630 3.0
Males 1,380,943 755,076 54.7 301,379 21.8 280,739 20.3 43,748 3.2
Females 1,210,843 982,682 81.2 135,388 11.2 58,891 4.9 33,882 2.8
65 years and over 2,581,251 2,125,047 82.3 185,874 7.2 137,950 5.3 132,379 5.1
Males 1,267,769 943,979 74.5 143,669 11.3 115,058 9.1 65,063 5.1
Females 1,313,482 1,181,068 89.9 42,206 3.2 22,892 1.7 67,316 5.1
65-74 years 1,572,861 1,251,618 79.6 143,555 9.1 112,808 7.2 64,880 4.1
Males 809,543 568,357 70.2 111,962 13.8 94,259 11.6 34,966 4.3
Females 763,318 683,261 89.5 31,593 4.1 18,549 2.4 29,914 3.9
75 years and over 1,008,390 873,429 86.6 42,320 4.2 25,142 2.5 67,499 6.7
Males 458,226 375,622 82.0 31,707 6.9 20,799 4.5 30,097 6.6
Females 550,164 497,806 90.5 10,612 E 1.9 E 4,343 E 0.8 E 37,402 6.8
1. Data source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Community Health Survey, 2003
2. Population aged 12 and over who reported having had at least one drink in the past 12 months.
3. Bootstrapping techniques were used to produce the coefficient of variation (CV) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
4. Data with a coefficient of variation (CV) from 16.6% to 33.3% are identified by an (E) and should be interpreted with caution.
5. Data with a coefficient of variation (CV) greater than 33.3% were suppressed (F) due to extreme sampling variability.
6. "Health regions" are defined by the provincial ministries of health. These are legislated administrative areas in all provinces except Nova Scotia. In Nova Scotia, the Ministry of Health uses statistical "zones" rather than its legislated administrative areas; the zones are aggregations of the nine district health authorities.
7. For complete Canadian coverage, each of the northern territories also represents a health region.
8. The health regions presented in this table are based on boundaries and names in effect as of June 2003.
9. A "peer group" is a grouping of health regions that have similar social and economic characteristics. The nine peer groups are identified by the letters A through I, which are appended to the health region 4-digit code.
10. In Ontario, Public health units (PHU) administer health promotion and disease prevention programs, and District health councils (DHC) are advisory, health planning organizations.
11. In Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, health regions are referred to as Health Authorities (HA) or Regional Health Authorities (RHA).
12. To avoid data suppression, northern regions in Manitoba have been grouped with neighbouring regions, as follows: Churchill Regional Health Authority (4690) is combined with Burntwood Regional Health Authority (4680) and referred to as "Burntwood/Churchill (4685)".
13. To avoid data suppression, northern regions in Saskatchewan have been grouped with neighbouring regions, as follows: Athabasca Health Authority (4713) is combined with Mamawetan Churchill River Regional Health Authority (4711) and Keewatin Yatthé Regional Health Authority (4712) and referred to as "Mamawetan/Keewatin/Athabasca (4714)".
14. The following standard symbols are used in Statistics Canada publications: (..) for figures not available for a specific reference period and (...) for figures not applicable.
15. CANSIM table number 01050231.