Public Health
31 Mar 2025

Developing a Policy Landscape in Cambodia to Combat Harmful Alcohol Consumption

The Southeast Asia Public Policy Institute (SEAPPI), in collaboration with the Asian Vision Institute (AVI), is pleased to release the white policy paper “Developing a Policy Landscape in Cambodia to Combat Harmful Alcohol Consumption.”

This publication provides the most thorough analysis to date of Cambodia’s alcohol market, consumption patterns, and policy gaps. Based on national survey data from over 1,300 adults across nine provinces, insights from a March 2025 multi-stakeholder dialogue in Phnom Penh, and experts’ perspectives, the report identifies key challenges including public misconceptions about alcohol, underage drinking, and drink-driving. It also highlights progress in advertising regulations and draft legislation on legal purchasing age, alongside the critical need for national drinking guidelines based on a standardized “standard drink” measurement. Finally, this white paper lays out recommendations for the creation of a more comprehensive and effective policy environment that supports safe and responsible drinking in Cambodia.

Click here to download the white paper.

Executive Summary

In recent years, the recorded alcohol market in Cambodia has been increasing and is projected to continue growing, buoyed by a rising middle class, growth in international tourism, and rapid urbanization. Much of the growth has been driven by the beer market, which was valued at USD 1.1 billion in 2023 and is projected to increase twofold by 2032. Wine and spirits consumption remains relatively lower. However, the unrecorded alcohol market in Cambodia is also significant, accounting for almost half of the alcohol consumed per capita.

Alcohol consumption among youth remains a concern in the country, with almost a third of young people between 15 to 19 years identified as current drinkers (this is in line with regional neighbors).Heavy episodic drinking (HED) is also a societal and public health challenge, with reports that 26 percent of drinkers engage in so-called ‘binge drinking’. According to the 2025 National Alcohol Attitudes Survey included in this white paper, over 28 percent of respondents engage in medium-risk drinking, with five percent considered high-risk and four percent likely addicted to alcohol. These insights point to a need for a more comprehensive alcohol policy framework in Cambodia to address harmful consumption such as underage drinking and encourage moderation. Notable policy gaps include the lack of a minimum legal purchase age (MLPA), national drinking guidelines and formal definitions for alcohol beverages and standard drink measurements across all beverage categories, and a licensing system for the sale and service of alcohol beverages. There are also issues around the enforcement of existing regulations, such as the mandated blood alcohol limit for driving.

Nevertheless, Cambodia has made progress. This includes new regulations in 2024 on the advertising of alcohol, the drafting of a sub-decree to implement a legal purchasing age, and early-stage discussions on the formalization of national drinking guidelines. Notably in 2015, the Cambodian government published a comprehensive draft Law on Alcohol Control, though it appears that the constituent parts of the law, such as a legal purchasing age, are being dealt with in separate regulations.

There are opportunities for both the Cambodian government and non-government stakeholders to support the development of a landscape that better promotes safer and responsible drinking habits. Based on the research reported in this white paper, which includes a national survey on social attitudes to alcohol and insights from a multi-stakeholder policy dialogue in March 2025, we have identified three key policy challenges for Cambodia concerning the harmful consumption of alcohol. These challenges can be addressed in the near-term with relatively ‘out of the box’ policy solutions aligned with global best practice and can be supported by a ‘whole of society’ approach that leverages the contributions of economic operators, government agencies and institutions, and civil society and community actors.

The policy challenges are:

  • Misconceptions that consumers have around alcohol
  • The consumption of alcohol by underage individuals
  • Road traffic safety and alcohol consumption

Our recommendations to address the above challenges, detailed further in this paper, include:

  • The development of National Drinking Guidelines and the concept of a Standard Drink. This should be grounded in global best practice, and supported by scientific evidence while being properly curated to Cambodia’s sociocultural context and local consumption patterns.
  • The completion of the draft sub-decree establishing a minimum legal purchasing age (MLPA), with reference to global best practice and local experiences from pilot projects. Implementation should leverage the capacity of local economic operators across retail and hospitality.
  • The enforcement of blood alcohol content (BAC) limits across the country, in particular outside of urban areas, based on global best practice, engagement of national road traffic police, and economic operators including producers, retail, hospitality, and the road transport sector.

Beyond regulatory measures, the government can include a wider range of stakeholders, including the private sector and civil society, in the enforcement and education of Cambodia’s alcohol regulations and policies. This includes leveraging a broad range of stakeholders in the development and implementation of public communications on harmful drinking and moderation across the challenge areas identified. This would include economic operators including producers, retailers, hospitality, and other businesses; government at the national and municipal level; the healthcare sector, educational institutions, and civil society and community organizations. Specifically, it may also include:

A common theme stressed during the March 2025 alcohol policy dialogue, and as confirmed by case studies from global best practice, is that enforcement is as critical as regulation and that close cooperation between government agencies and private sector stakeholders and civil society is crucial to reaching regulatory compliance and operationalizing policies.

About the Southeast Asia Public Policy Institute 

The Southeast Asia Public Policy Institute is a research institute based in Bangkok and Singapore, working across the region. Our mission is to support the development of solutions to the most pressing public policy challenges facing Southeast Asia in the 21st century. The Institute undertakes in-depth research to develop actionable policy solutions on a range of issues across sustainability, technology, public health, trade, and governance. We convene dialogues with stakeholders and decisionmakers to drive discussion on the challenges and opportunities facing markets across the region. The Institute draws on a network of in-market researchers, advisors, and partners to provide insights and recommendations for governments, policymakers, and businesses.