More Australians are taking illicit drugs than are Britons on average, but people in Britain are still smoking tobacco and abusing alcohol in higher numbers, a University of Adelaide report has found.

And while Australians were more likely to drink alcohol, they were less likely to have a drinking problem than Americans or Britons, the research based on global data found.

About 3.7 per cent of Australians were considered to have an alcohol use disorder, compared with 12.1 per cent in the United Kingdom and 7.8 per cent in the United States.

When it came to illicit drugs such as cannabis, ecstasy and opioid-type drugs (medications such as codeine and morphine), however, a higher percentage of Australians indulged.

The paper found 10.3 per cent of Australians smoked cannabis at least once in a 12-month period, compared with 5.7 per cent of Britons.

Three per cent of Australians used ecstasy compared with between 1.1 and 1.7 per cent of people in the UK.

And 2.1 per cent of Australians use amphetamine-type drugs at least one in a 12-month period, compared with 0.7 to 1.2 per cent of people in the UK.

Meanwhile, alcohol and tobacco were still the most common addictions in most countries, the study found.

Lead author Associate Professor Linda Gowing said the data revealed the impact of illicit drugs was significant in Australia.

"It says that in Australia the most common addictions remain alcohol and tobacco, but there is also illicit drug use there," she said.

"What is says is that it's important that we maintain our strategies on alcohol and tobacco, we're actually doing quite well on those things, while we need to also pay attention to the problems of illicit drug use which can be substantial.

"But we shouldn't lose sight of alcohol and tobacco and we should maintain our efforts in banishing those substances as well."

Data may be useful for policymakers

The paper revealed that Australians were smoking slightly less then Britons, but smoking was still relatively common with 20 per cent of Australians smoking tobacco at least once in a 12-month period, in comparison to 22 per cent of Britons.

Professor Gowing said the report could be useful for policymakers and politicians in deciding how to tackle addictions.

"If you look at what the prevalence of addictive behaviours are in different countries, and then you try and tease out what is happening in those different countries that is maybe influencing patterns of use, and is this something that could be useful to us in addressing problems in our own country," she said.

"It is relevant to deciding where to direct our activities both in health and in other strategies that may be used to try and manage the consequences of addictions."