Despite annual sin tax increases on alcohol, dangerous drinking remains entrenched among South Africans who consume alcohol. WHO data highlights harmful drinking patternsThe scale of harmful drinking is clear in World Health Organisation data. Its technical manual on alcohol taxation reported that only about 35% to 40% of South African adults had consumed alcohol, but drinking patterns among those who did were potentially dangerous. South African adult drinkers consumed an average of 28.9l of pure alcohol in 2016, considerably higher than the African regional average of 18.4l . A national survey also found that 48% of male drinkers and 32% of female drinkers consumed five or more standard drinks on a typical day.