NT residents drink too much: report

There's a deadly hangover from the Northern Territory's nation-topping thirst for alcohol.

Research shows people in the NT drink about 14 litres of pure alcohol over a year, or about 50 per cent more than that consumed by Australian drinkers in general.

A study published in the Medical Journal of Australia also now shows territorians are dying from alcohol-related causes at more than three times the rate seen across the rest of the country.

Dr Steven Skov, a public health physician at the NT's Department of Health and Families, and his research colleagues have produced a sobering analysis of the NT's alcohol-related deaths and hospital admissions.

"We found that alcohol consumption and subsequent harm in the NT are at unacceptable levels and well in excess of those in Australia as a whole," Dr Skov said in his research paper.

"... Just as drinking too much has consequences for an individual, so a society that drinks too much will also suffer harm."

There were about 120 alcohol-related deaths in the territory in 2004-05 and again in 2005-06, corresponding to a rate of about 7.5 deaths per 100,000 in the population.

This was about 3.5 times the rate of alcohol-related deaths seen across Australia generally.

It was about double the rate seen in non-indigenous people nationwide and almost 10 times that seen among indigenous Australians.

Cirrhosis of the liver, suicide and road crashes were the three most common alcohol-related causes of death in the NT.

"Drink driving contributes greatly to the road toll in the NT," Dr Skov said.

"Some 48 per cent of NT road fatalities involve an illegal blood-alcohol concentration compared with less than 30 per cent in other jurisdictions."

The research also identified about 2,400 alcohol-related admissions to a territory hospital in each of the two years - more than double the population rate seen nationally.

Dr Skov said it was not a case of drinking in indigenous communities driving up the figures, because excessive alcohol consumption and its tragic results were evident across the NT community.

He called for a reimposition of the Living With Alcohol initiative, a program run during the 1990s which included a levy to drive up the cost of full-strength beer.

"People in the NT are characterised by fewer abstainers, fewer low-risk drinkers and more risky and high-risk drinkers compared with Australian averages," Dr Skov said.

"The NT has previously shown that by implementing a comprehensive, committed program that is well informed by the evidence, this alcohol-related harm can be turned around."