Aims:
- To assess the social and economic costs and harms of alcohol consumption in the Northern Territory.
Research Questions:
- What are the social and economic impacts of alcohol consumption in the NT?
Summary:
- The costs and harms of alcohol consumption in Australia are well documented, and have significant impacts across society including premature deaths, heavy use of the health system, high rates of crime (particularly violent crime and antisocial behaviour), child abuse and neglect, and road crashes (AIHW 2018a).
- Historically, the per capita costs and harms of alcohol consumption in the Northern Territory (NT) have been the highest in the nation.
- At a population level it is now estimated that the total social cost of alcohol in 2015/16 was $1,386.8 million, with tangible costs of $701.3 million, and intangible costs of $685.5 million (excluding the lost quality of life due to addiction amongst dependent drinkers and the family members of dependent drinkers).
- At an individual level the estimated total social cost of alcohol in 2015/16 was $3,832.19 in tangible costs per adult resident of the Northern Territory, with intangible costs imposing a further cost of $3,745.75 per adult. This equates to a total estimated impact of $7,577.94 per adult (excluding the costs of alcohol dependence to the dependent drinker and their family).
Implications for policy and practice:
- Further work needs to be done to reduce the costs and harms of alcohol in the NT.
- The current alcohol harm minimisation approach currently being adopted by the NTG provides a useful foundation from which to build additional and sustained evidence-based responses. These need to span policy, program and service delivery contexts if significant improvements are to be achieved.
- Areas for future investment include:
- Stronger cross-sectoral collaboration;
- A greater focus on preventive efforts;
- Efforts targeted towards the people at greatest risk;
- Significant service system redesign; and
- Innovative approaches that tackle alcohol issues at the grass roots.
- This report indicates that a long-term outlook is required to adequately support the health and safety of the NT community from the harms of alcohol.
Our research has found:
- At a population level it is now estimated that the total social cost of alcohol in 2015/16 was $1,386.8 million, with tangible costs of $701.3 million, and intangible costs of $685.5 million (excluding the lost quality of life due to addiction amongst dependent drinkers and the family members of dependent drinkers).
- At an individual level the estimated total social cost of alcohol in 2015/16 was $3,832.19 in tangible costs per adult resident of the Northern Territory, with intangible costs imposing a further cost of $3,745.75 per adult. This equates to a total estimated impact of $7,577.94 per adult (excluding the costs of alcohol dependence to the dependent drinker and their family).
- At a population level total costs of premature mortality equate to $785,537,761 including both tangible and intangible costs.
- A summary of the most significant tangible costs includes:
- Total health costs equate to $100,177,195
- Total road crash costs equate to $57,626,900 (excluding mortality and hospital separations)
- Total quantifiable costs of crime equate to $272,577,240
- Total child protection costs equate to $170,912,745
- A summary of the most significant intangible costs includes:
- Intangible costs of premature death of $652.5 million
- Intangible costs of permanent impairment from road crash injuries of $17.1 million
- Intangible costs of crime (e.g. pain and suffering, reduced feeling of safety) of $15.9 million
- In addition, the following estimations have been made regarding the impact of alcohol on the Northern Territory in 2015/16:
- There were an estimated 141.9 net premature deaths caused by alcohol.
- Crime caused by alcohol accounted for $75.9 million of police time while the total costs of alcohol attributable crime are just under $142 million.
- Alcohol is estimated to be responsible for between 4.5 per cent and 11 per cent of cases of child abuse and neglect, creating costs of $8 million to $20 million in increased child protection spending by the NT Government, and imposing lifetime costs of $62 million to $384 million on the victims of child abuse and neglect.
- Almost fifty per cent of road crash deaths, and twenty per cent of serious injury crashes are attributable to alcohol.
Project manager
Contact info
Project dates
Completed.
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Smith, J., Whetton, S. & d’Abbs, P. (2019). The social and economic costs and harms of alcohol consumption in the Northern Territory. Darwin, Menzies School of Health Research.