Environmental Health Indicators

About alcohol-related harm indicators

This section provides information on alcohol-related harm indicators.

The health and social harms of alcohol use are wide ranging. Harmful alcohol use has been linked to over 200 diseases and injuries, including liver diseases, road injuries, violence, cardiovascular diseases, suicides, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS. Alcohol consumption is also the third most important risk factor for cancer, behind smoking and obesity. The impact of harmful alcohol use can occur quickly (short-term harms) or over a long time (long-term harms). It can also cause harm to other people through domestic or interpersonal violence and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

The Global Burden of Disease study estimated that 2.3% of health loss through disease and injury was due to alcohol consumption in 2021. For New Zealand, 4.3% of the total disease burden and 8.5% of the injury burden were due to alcohol consumption.

Currently, the EHINZ programme has the following indicators of alcohol-related harm:

Hazardous drinking
Heavy episodic drinking
Hospitalisations wholly attributable to alcohol
Mortality wholly attributable to alcohol
Alcohol outlet licence density

The purpose of these indicators is to monitor key harmful health outcomes, and associated features of the alcohol environment, in order to:

help track the collective effect of actions to reduce alcohol-related harm (over the medium to long term)
inform policies and interventions
raise awareness of the harms from alcohol use
raise awareness of the environmental influences on alcohol use and harm
provide information at the local and regional area.