Abstract: Objective To investigate the alcohol drinking status of residents aged 15 and over in Guangdong Province and to provide scientific evidence of the development for alcohol related health education strategies and intervention measures for Guangdong Province. Methods Using multi stage stratified cluster sampling, seven districts/counties of Luohu in Shenzhen, Tianhe in Guangzhou, Jinwan in Zhuhai, Duanzhou in Zhaoqing, Chancheng in Foshan, Boluo in Huizhou, and Yangxi in Yangjiang cities were selected. Six resident/village committees were sampled in each county, 75 households were sampled in each resident/village committee, and then, family members aged 15 and over were selected to participate in the survey. Survey contents included personal general situation, alcohol drinking in the past 12 months, types of alcoholic beverage, frequency, average consumption of every time, etc.Descriptive epidemiological analysis was carried out on the survey. Results In total, 7 703 residents aged 15 and over were investigated, of whom 960 were drinkers, with a crude drinking rate of 12.5% (960/7 703) and a standardized drinking rate of 13.4%. The crude drinking rates were 24.2% (799/3 305) for men and 3.7% (161/4 398) for women; standardized drinking rates were 29.1% for men and 3.1% for women, respectively. The male standardized drinking rate was higher than that of female (P<0.01). The crude drinking rates were 16.3% (358/2 204), 12.4% (422/3 413), and 8.6% (180/2 086) for residents in large, medium sized and small cities, and rural areas, and their standardized drinking rates were 13.4%, 12.1%, and 10.5%, respectively (P<0.05). The crude drinking rates were 1.4% (5/368), 14.4% (497/3 440), 13.3% (300/2 259), and 9.7% (158/1 636) for 15－, 18－, 45－, and 60 and over age groups of residents and their standardized drinking rates were 3.4%, 18.7%, 8.5%, and 5.3%, respectively (P< 0.01). 51.6% (412/799) of male drinkers and 39.8% (64/161) of female drinkers drank five or more times a week. The top three types of alcoholic beverage were beer, white spirit, and wine, accounting for 62.1% (596/960), 51.8% (497/960), and 34.8% (334/960), respectively. Among the highly liquor drinkers, 44.4% (127/286) of them drank more than 150 g of white spirit each time. Conclusion Alcohol drinking behavior was common in urban and rural residents aged 15 and over in Guangdong Province. A further investigation is necessary to find out the key risk population and make targeted intervention measures to reduce the drinking behavior and alcohol consumption.