According to data from the 2022 Survey on Living Conditions and Income conducted by INE (National Institute of Statistics), nearly 20% of the Portuguese population

aged 16 and above consume alcoholic beverages on a daily basis. This percentage rises to 33.7% among retirees.

The survey reveals that daily alcohol consumption is significantly higher among men (31.5%) compared to women (8.5%), and the highest rates are found among the elderly population, particularly in the age group of 65 to 74 years (34.7%).

Among respondents aged 16 or above, 18.4% reported consuming alcohol a few times a week, 12.3% a few times a month (but not weekly), and 14.2% stated they consumed alcohol more rarely (a few times a year). In contrast, 35.8% reported not having consumed any alcoholic beverages in the 12 months preceding the survey.

The report highlights that individuals with a lower level of education, up to basic education, had a significantly higher proportion of daily alcohol consumption compared to those with higher education qualifications. Furthermore, retirees stood out with 33.7% reporting daily alcohol consumption, which is considerably higher than the figures reported by the active population (15.7% for employees and 15.4% for the unemployed).

Smoking habits were also examined in the survey, revealing that 14.1% of the population aged 16 or over are daily smokers, slightly lower than the findings of the National Health Survey conducted in 2019 (14.2%). Occasional tobacco consumption was reported by 2% of the population. The analysis showed that regular tobacco use was more prevalent among men (19.7%) than women (9.2%), individuals aged 25 to 64 years (between 18% and 21%), and those with secondary education qualifications (17.2%). Photo by Topi Pigula, Wikimedia commons.