One in twenty Australians aged 16-85 years (5.1%) had a substance use disorder in the 12 months prior to interview (Table 6-1). Alcohol harmful use disorder was the most common form of substance use disorder with a prevalence of 2.9%. Both harmful use and dependence were more commonly diagnosed for alcohol (2.9% and 1.4% respectively) than for drugs (0.9% and 0.6% respectively). Among the drug use disorders, the prevalence of cannabis and stimulant related disorders were higher than the equivalent sedative and opioid related disorders.
Table 6-1: Prevalence of 12-month substance use disorders by substance use disorder type and sex
Substance use disorder | Males (%) | Females (%) | Persons (%) | |
Alcohol | Harmful use | 3.8 | 2.1 | 2.9 |
| Dependence | 2.2 | 0.7 | 1.4 | |
Cannabis | Harmful use | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.6 |
| Dependence | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.4 | |
Stimulants | Harmful use | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Dependence | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.3 | |
Sedatives | Harmful use | 0.04 | ||
| Dependence | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | |
Opioids | Harmful use | 0.1 | ||
| Dependence | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | |
Any drug | Harmful use | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.9 |
| Dependence | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.6 | |
Any substance | Harmful use | 4.7 | 2.4 | 3.5 |
| Dependence | 2.6 | 1.0 | 1.8 | |
Any substance use disorder | 7.0 | 3.3 | 5.1 | |
Note: Totals are lower than the sum of disorders as people may have had more than one type of substance use disorder in the 12 months.
np Not available for publication, but included in totals where applicable.