Health Research Board figures based on Revenue sales data show how much pure alcohol Irish adults buy each year, how the mix of beer, wine and spirits has changed, and how much alcohol duty the State collects.
In 2025, people in Ireland aged 15 and over bought an average of 9.24 litres of pure alcohol each. That is about a third less than in 2001, when the figure peaked at 14.3 litres. It is the lowest figure in the Health Research Board (HRB) series shown here, which starts in 2000.
"Pure alcohol" means only the alcohol itself, not the water and other parts of a drink. Counting it this way lets beer, wine and spirits be added together. The HRB works it out from Revenue figures for alcohol sold and taxed, divided by the number of people aged 15 and over.
Drinking per adult has fallen by a third since 2001
Alcohol use rose fast in the 1990s and peaked in 2001. It fell sharply after 2008 and has drifted down since. The HRB says per capita use has fallen by 16.1% since the Public Health (Alcohol) Act was introduced in 2018.
The Government set a target of 9.1 litres per person, first set in 2013 and meant to be reached by 2020. The 2025 figure is still above it. It is also above the OECD average of 8.5 litres, the HRB says.
Beer is still the biggest seller, but wine has gained ground
In 1989, beer made up 69.5% of all the alcohol Irish adults drank. By 2023, it was 43.1%. Wine went the other way, from under 7% to 28.5%.
Beer fell sharply in 2020 and 2021, the years of COVID-19 restrictions, while wine rose in 2020. Beer recovered in 2022 but by 2023 had not returned to its 2019 level.
| Year | Beer | Wine | Spirits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 4.8 | 3.0 | 2.3 |
| 2020 | 3.9 | 3.3 | 2.2 |
| 2021 | 3.9 | 2.8 | 2.2 |
| 2022 | 4.5 | 2.7 | 2.4 |
| 2023 | 4.3 | 2.8 | 2.3 |
What 9.9 litres looks like
The HRB turned the 2023 figure of 9.9 litres into everyday drinks. It is the same as each adult drinking about 400 pints of 4.3% beer in a year, or 104 bottles of wine, or 37 bottles of vodka.
These figures count alcohol sold and taxed in Ireland. They miss alcohol Irish people drink abroad, cross-border shopping, home brew and illegal alcohol, so the HRB says real use is likely higher.
Seven in ten adults drink, and a quarter binge
The per capita figure is an average across everyone, including people who never drink. The Healthy Ireland Survey 2025 found that 71% of people aged 15 and over had a drink in the previous 12 months, so about 29% had not.
of people aged 15+ reported binge drinking (six or more standard drinks at one time) in 2025: 40% of men and 12% of women
Source: drugsandalcohol.ieBinge drinking means drinking a large amount in one session. Among 15 to 24-year-olds, 36% reported it. In a 2024 European school survey of 15 and 16-year-olds, 35.1% of students in Ireland said they had drunk alcohol in the past month.
The HRB also tracks harm. There were 8,745 treatment cases for problem alcohol use in 2024, the highest yearly total in over a decade. Irish hospitals recorded 22,572 alcohol-related discharges in 2023.
The State collects about €1.2 billion a year in alcohol duty
Revenue collected €1.24 billion in Alcohol Products Tax, the excise duty on drink, in 2024. That is about the same as in 2019, even though less alcohol is being sold per adult. Duty on wine has more than doubled since 2003, from €167.8 million to €392.2 million.
Revenue splits duty into drink made here and drink brought in. Duty on Irish-produced spirits rose from €108.0 million in 2014 to €145.5 million in 2024. Cider has gone the other way: its duty fell from €61.2 million in 2018 to €47.3 million in 2024.
Minimum pricing is in force, labels are due in 2028
Minimum unit pricing sets a floor price based on how much alcohol a drink contains, so the floor is higher for stronger drinks. It does not set a maximum price, and shops and pubs can charge more.
- Minimum unit pricing came into force on 4 January 2022. Drink cannot be sold for less than 10c per gram of alcohol, under section 11 of the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018.
- Health labelling regulations were signed in May 2023. On 22 July 2025, the Government decided to delay them by two years.
- The labelling rules are now due to take effect on 3 September 2028, the Minister for Health told the Dáil in December 2025.
How to read these figures
- Per capita figures divide all alcohol sold by everyone aged 15 and over, including people who do not drink.
- Survey figures, such as how many people binge drink, come from what people tell interviewers. Sales figures come from tax records. The two measure different things.
- The figures are based on tax paid, so they measure sales, not exactly what people drink.
- Revenue publishes alcohol data quarterly and yearly, not monthly, so this page does not show a monthly or Christmas pattern.
- Duty receipts depend on tax rates as well as sales. A rise in receipts does not always mean more drinking.
HRB per capita alcohol figure for 2026, based on Revenue data
Alcohol health labelling regulations under the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018 due to take effect
- HRB: Drugnet Ireland 95, Understanding per capita alcohol use versus low-risk drinking guidelines (July 2026)
- HRB: Overview Series 11, Alcohol consumption, alcohol-related harm and alcohol policy in Ireland
- HRB: Overview Series 13, Alcohol: availability, affordability, related harm, and policy in Ireland
- HRB National Drugs Library: Alcohol, the Irish situation 2026 (factsheet, January 2026)
- Revenue: Excise receipts by commodity
- Revenue: Alcohol Products Tax statistics
- Department of Health: Ministers welcome introduction of minimum unit pricing of alcohol (4 January 2022)
- Dáil Éireann, Questions 587 and 667, 18 December 2025 (HRB National Drugs Library record)
