Alcohol producers are reporting lower sales - what is driving global drop in liquor consumption?

The Money Show's Stephen Grootes is joined by Maurice Smithers from the
Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance in SA.

'Sober curious' and 'mindful drinking' have become buzz words, particularly among the younger generation as the consumption of alcohol looks to be declining around the world. But there are many other factors at play. 

'Alcohol consumption has gone into possibly permanent decline', claims the writer of an article for TechCentral.

It highlights the UK example cited by the International Wine and Spirits Record (IWSR), which witnessed a dramatic fall in per-capita drinking in recent years, from 5l of pure alcohol per adult per year in 2013, to 3.9l in 2023.

Stephen Grootes discusses the trend with Maurice Smithers, executive director of the Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance in SA (SAAPA SA).

Smithers notes that the expected resurgence of liquor consumption after the COVID pandemic, has not happened.

"Everybody expected there would be a resurgence post-COVID because, even though alcohol sales were banned in only around ten countries including South Africa, there were heavy restrictions elsewhere too."

Maurice Smithers, Executive Director - SAAPA SA

While we do know that lower alcohol consumption seems to be a global phenomenon - with wine, with beer and with spirits in certain cases, the causes are varied and debatable, Smithers says.

"It could be the economics of this, it could be a tendency towards health... Some people are even arguing it's the increasing decriminalisation of marijuana, which people are opting for instead of alcohol."

Maurice Smithers, Executive Director - SAAPA SA

"In South Africa, given the extent of unemployment, we have a large number of people that simply can't drink a lot and even those with jobs are struggling, so it's not easy for people to be drinking as much as they used to."

Maurice Smithers, Executive Director - SAAPA SA

Smithers says SAAPA believes there needs to be more fundamental change in South Africa to lessen the horrific potential consequences of what is still a national alcohol problem, like road accidents and gender-based violence.

"However, because of the way in which the legislative environment works in SA it's actually very difficult to develop a national solution to what is really a national problem -  that's because of the way in which the Constitution gives liquor licensing authority to provinces. National government has actually very little authority over what happens with liquor licensing, operating hours, number of licenses and so on - it's decided by provinces."

Maurice Smithers, Executive Director - SAAPA SA

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the conversation