The decline in youth drinking, according to experts, is remarkable and widespread in most high-income European countries, as well as the US, Australia and New Zealand. During lockdown, Gen Z Australians were most likely to have decreased their alcohol consumption, with 44% reporting they were drinking less – more than double the rate for any other generation. Rates of binge drinking among New Zealand’s young people have also dropped by more than half between 2001 and 2012, and have continued to drop since.