Are You Drinking More Post-Pandemic? You’re Not Alone

It’s perhaps no surprise that the COVID-19 pandemic—during which social isolation and anxiety skyrocketed—saw Canadians drinking more than usual. But a report from the Centre for Mental Health and Addiction found that those habits have stuck: Canadians who consume alcohol are drinking more frequently than they did before the pandemic, with weekly binge drinking and daily alcohol consumption on the rise since 2019. 

The CAMH report, which has surveyed Ontarians on their substance use and mental health for nearly 50 years, saw a more than 3-percent increase in the number of people polled who drink daily since 2019 (10 percent). The number of those who binged alcohol (consuming five or more drinks on one occasion) each week also increased by nearly four percent. (Nearly 10 percent of respondents reported they binged alcohol in 2025, compared to six percent in 2019.) 

While daily drinking and binge drinking have increased among both Canadian women and men since 2019, women were more likely to report poorer self-rated mental health and frequent physically unhealthy days than their male counterparts. 

“There was a sense that once the pandemic waned and things got back to normal, then things might revert back to their 2019, pre-pandemic levels,” report co-author Hayley Hamilton told the Toronto Star. “But many things have not.”

In 2023, the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction released new guidelines for low-risk drinking: no more than two drinks per week. Anything more, the guidelines say, can lead to greater health risks, such as developing cancers or heart disease. 

While the percentage of those who abstain from alcohol altogether has increased since 2019, CAMH notes that greater access to alcohol in Ontario—at supermarkets and convenience stores—remains a concern.

“Alcohol remains one of the leading preventable causes of death in Canada, in large part due to its accessibility and potential for dependence,” says CAMH’s Dr. Leslie Buckley in a press release. “Increasing availability raises concern about further harm to this higher-risk population.”