⏱️This edition of the National Account’s newsletter is a five-minute read.
👋 G’day everyone, Archie here.
There is nothing like interviewing an alcohol expert to bring your own consumption into sharp focus. So it was this week when I spoke to Eleanor Costello from the Alcohol and Drug Foundation about “risky drinking” and how much booze Australians consume.
So, let’s crack on with it 🗞️
If you think of the drinking guidelines, it's 10, no more than 10 drinks over a week, and no more than four in occasion. So when your doctor has asked you how many do you have and you go, ‘I drink this much on my night out on the weekend’, they turn around and go, ‘Well, actually that's considered binge drinking 'cause you've drunk over your four standard drinks’.
🗣️ Why did she say that?
Gen Z might be drinking less, but there is another trend that’s not being talked about as much.
It’s to do with who's drinking more and who's drinking less. The gap between men and women aged 18-24, is closing, men drinking less, women drinking more.
Eleanor Costello from the Alcohol and Drug Foundation gave me the rundown on what the data actually shows and also unpacks a first-of-its-kind study on middle-aged male drinking, as well as why your doctor probably files your typical Saturday night out under “binge drinking”.
Watch the full interview below:
Australia's biggest survey is coming. Here's what you need to know 📝
People with philosophy qualifications are more than three times as likely to ride a bike to work than other Australians.
These are the types of juicy morsels we are presented with every five years, as the federal government takes a wide pan on Australia - how many of us there are, how old, where we live, where we came from, how much we earn.
And how many philosopher types pedal to work.
The method for this stickybeaking is the Australian Census, and it helps governments work out where we are heading, and what needs to be done to get there.
More than 30,000 people will be employed to make sure as many residents and visitors as possible fill in the questionnaire on August 11.
Do I have to? Yes. Anyone in Australia on August 11 will have to complete the census, and that includes international visitors.
However, if you're overseas on August 11, you won’t need to complete the survey.
What’s new? This year's census will include for the first time a question about sex recorded at birth and gender. The ABS says the data will support the development and delivery of targeted health and social programs and services.
How many riding coaches? Data from the 2026 Australian Census won’t start being published until June 2027, but some of the things we learnt from the last one in 2021 were:
More than half of Australians (51.5 percent) reported either being born overseas or having a parent who was.
Nearly four in 10 Australians (38.9 percent) said they had no religious affiliation, up from 30.1 percent in 2016.
The number of horse riding coaches had grown from 565 in 2001 to 926 in 2021, a rise of 64 percent.
Thanks for catching up with me. As always, I really appreciate any feedback and suggestions for topics I should dig into and people I should talk to 👋.
I’ll be back next week, but we will have content coming out on all the usual platforms so stay tuned!
Cheers, Archie
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