21 Feb 2010

NZers drinking and smoking less

12:56 pm on 21 February 2010

New figures suggest New Zealanders could be drinking and smoking less.

According to Statistics New Zealand data, the amount of alcohol for sale last year dropped by just over 3% to 470 million litres.

The number of cigarettes for sale dropped by 4.5% to 2.4 billion.

Statistics manager Kathy Connolly says it's the first decrease in alcohol availability in the past decade.

The biggest drop was in beer, with the amount for sale falling by more than 5%.