Canberra has long been known as one of the best paid and most highly educated cities in Australia.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Now, it can lay claim to being one of the nation's healthiest cities as well.
ACT residents smoke less, drink less and use fewer illicit drugs than other Australians, according to a new government report.
The report, released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, was based on the National Drug Strategy Household Survey conducted throughout 2016.
It showed that, when adjusted for population size and age, the ACT out-performed other states and territories on indicators of tobacco use, alcohol consumption and drug use.
Other national trends examined in the report included the link between drug use and mental health, and the relationship between sexual orientation and drug use.
The percentage of ACT residents aged 14 or older who smoked every day was 9.4, compared to an Australian average of 12.4.
The Northern Territory had the highest percentage of daily smokers at 16.9.
The number of ACT residents who drank alcohol every day has nearly halved since 2013, dropping from 6.6 to 3.6 per cent in 2016.
On average, 5.9 per cent of the total Australian population drank alcohol every day, although this number has dropped from 6.5 per cent in 2013.
The ACT also had the lowest number of people aged 14 or older who had used illicit drugs in the past year.
Figures showed just 12.9 per cent of the ACT population had used drugs, compared with 15.6 per cent of the Australian population.
The Northern Territory recorded the highest rates of risky alcohol consumption, recent illicit drug use and the number of people who smoked every day.
A number of emerging national trends were also highlighted by the report.
Of the people who had used an illicit drug in the past 12 months, 27 per cent reported being diagnosed or treated for a mental illness.
This number had increased from 21 per cent in 2013.
"Drug use is a complex issue, and it's difficult to determine to what degree drug use causes mental health problems, and to what degree mental health problems give rise to drug use," a spokesman for the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare said.
Rates of drug use were also shown to be higher among respondents identifying as gay, lesbian or bisexual, with differences particularly pronounced for ecstasy and methamphetamine use.
"Homosexual and bisexual people were almost six times as likely as heterosexual people to use each of these drugs, and were also about four times as likely to use cocaine," the spokesman said.
Australians' attitudes towards medicinal cannabis were also highlighted.
"Our report also shows that more Australians are in favour of the use of cannabis in clinical trials to treat medical conditions - 87 per cent now support its use, up from 75 per cent in 2013.
"We also found that 85 per cent of people now support legislative changes to permit its use for medical purposes in general, up from 69 per cent in 2013."
