Over the past few years, alcohol consumption has decreased significantly in Canada, while non-alcoholic beverages have become increasingly popular. This shift in consumer habits can be attributed to health concerns, cultural changes and the increasing availability of quality alcohol-free products.<\/p>\r\n
<\/p>\r\n
According to Statistics Canada, total alcohol sales declined by 0.1% between April 2023 and March 2024, to reach 26.2\u00a0billion dollars. More significantly, beer sales by volume were down 4.5%, marking the largest drop since 1949 and the eighth consecutive annual decline. <\/a>\u00a0In Qu\u00e9bec, per capita alcohol consumption went from 122 litres in 2009 to 102 litres in 2022-2023, mainly due to declining beer sales.<\/p>\r\n <\/p>\r\n At the same time, sales of non-alcoholic beverages have increased sharply. Between June 2023 and June 2024, the non-alcoholic beverage market in Canada rose to 199\u00a0million dollars, a 24% increase over the previous year, with non-alcoholic beer accounting for 76% of total sales. <\/a><\/p>\r\n Provincial retailers have also observed this trend.\u00a0 \u00a0The SAQ reported an 83% increase in the sale of non-alcoholic beverages in January 2024 compared to the previous year<\/a>. In Ontario, the LCBO saw a 69% increase in its sales of non-alcoholic beer over the same period.<\/a><\/p>\r\n <\/p>\r\n There are several factors involved:<\/p>\r\n <\/p>\r\n The transition to non-alcoholic beverages seems to be more than a passing trend. A NielsenIQ study indicated that 70% of people who drink alcohol-free beverages intend to continue doing so throughout the year, not just during specific periods such as Dry January.<\/p>\r\n The trend towards sobriety also extends to events such as festivals. More and more Canadians are choosing to \u00a0attend festivals while staying sober<\/a>, proving that fun and moderation go together hand in hand.<\/p>\r\n <\/p>\r\n In short, Canada is seeing a shift in alcohol consumption habits, with an overall decline in consumption and a surge in alcohol-free alternatives. This shift reflects the population’s growing health awareness and its willingness to change its consumption habits.<\/p>\r\n <\/p>\r\n For more information on the effects of reducing or pausing alcohol consumption, see the 28 Benefits of Going Alcohol-Free for 28 Days<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n Share the article:<\/p>\r\n Share on Facebook <\/a> Share on Linkedin <\/a><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Over the past few years, alcohol consumption has decreased significantly in Canada, while non-alcoholic beverages have become increasingly popular. This shift in consumer habits can be attributed to health concerns, cultural changes and the increasing availability of quality alcohol-free products. Declining Alcohol Consumption According to Statistics Canada, total alcohol sales declined by 0.1% between… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":43070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[153],"tags":[367],"class_list":["post-43076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-sobriety"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43076"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44416,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43076\/revisions\/44416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portage.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}A Surge in Non-alcoholic Beverages<\/h2>\r\n
What Factors are Driving this Change?<\/h2>\r\n
\r\n
A Lasting Shift<\/h2>\r\n