Alcohol consumption as estimated by the informant method; a household survey and sales data.

The informant method of estimating alcohol use yielded higher rates of drinking and of heavy drinking in the general population than did the standard household survey method. The informant method provided estimates of per capita consumption closer to those based on alcoholic beverage sales. Overall, the informant method appears to obtain higher estimates of heavy and problem alcohol use, is cheaper than survey methods and may overcome some selective reporting problems typical of standard surveys.