US alcohol consumption at a record low as health warnings grow, survey finds

The Guardian

5 days ago

Alcohol consumption among adults in the US is at the lowest level on record, as most Americans, for the first time, view even moderate drinking as harmful, a new survey has found.
Pollster Gallup's latest Consumption Habits survey, conducted annually, showed that about 54% of Americans reported drinking alcohol, compared with 58% in 2024 and 62% in 2023.
The figure falls below the previous record low of 55% in 1958 in the nearly nine decades of such tracking by Gallup. And the figure appears not to be driven by people turning to alternatives, such as legal recreational cannabis, the researchers said.
Alcohol sales have been falling since the emergence of something of a national drinking binge during the Covid-19 pandemic, as inflation and interest rates stretch consumer wallets. Spirit makers now also face growing warnings from public health authorities who say drinking even small amounts of alcohol is associated with at least seven types of cancer.
A majority of Americans – 53% – say moderate drinking is bad for health, Gallup found, up from 45% last year.
Fewer US drinkers are consuming alcohol regularly, with a record-low 24% saying they had a drink in the previous day and 40% reporting more than a week since their last, the highest share since 2000, the survey found.
Average intake over the past seven days fell to 2.8 drinks, the lowest since 1996 and down from 3.8 a year ago, far below the 2003 peak of 5.1 drinks per week, the reports showed.
'The decline in alcohol consumption does not appear to be caused by people shifting to other mood-altering substances, in particular, recreational marijuana, which is now legal in about half of US states,' Lydia Saad, Gallup's director of social research, said.
Gallup has tracked Americans' drinking behavior since 1939 and their views of the health implications of moderate drinking since 2001.