Australia and New Zealand had the highest number of cocaine users in the world in 2024, according to a new report.
The United Nations’ (UN) World Drug Report provides an annual snapshot of global drug trends.
The report also noted high detections of cannabis and MDMA in Australia and New Zealand compared to other regions.
Cocaine
UN analyses of wastewater samples found Australia and NZ recorded the highest prevalence of cocaine use in the world.
However, the actual consumption was low. This means there was a high number of people who consumed a small amount of cocaine.
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The UN report concluded that cocaine users in Australia and NZ are predominantly “occasional”.
UN data shows 5.3% of men and 3.7% of women aged 15-64 in Australia had used cocaine in 2022/23.
Other
The report captures multiple drug trends by region.
Australia and NZ also rank the highest of any global region for using MDMA (e.g. ‘caps’).
The report said the prevalence of cannabis among 15 and 16-year-olds in the region was 13%, higher than the global school-aged average of 4.4%.
