Americans Drinking at Record Low Rates

Fewer Americans are reaching for a drink than ever before, a new survey from Gallup suggests. The percentage of Americans who say they drink has fallen to 54%, a record low since Gallup started tracking the statistic nearly 90 years ago, reports the Guardian. That's down from 58% last year and well below the 62% who reported drinking in 2023. The drop isn't being explained by a surge in alternative substances, such as legal recreational marijuana, according to Gallup's researchers. Instead, several factors appear to be at play:

• Alcohol sales have been on the decline since the pandemic's early days, when Americans drank more heavily, but an uptick in inflation and higher interest rates may be making people think twice about spending on booze.
• Meanwhile, warnings from public health officials about the risks of even modest drinking—now linked to at least seven kinds of cancer, per the Guardian—are resonating more widely. For the first time, a majority of Americans (53%) consider moderate drinking to be harmful, up sharply from 45% last year.

• Drinking habits are changing, too. Only 24% of Americans reported having a drink in the previous day, the lowest mark on record, and 40% said it had been more than a week since their last drink, the highest since 2000.
• The trend held true across demographics including gender, race, and age, per the Hill. Related particulars: 57% of men report being drinkers, compared to 51% of women; those 35 and older were more likely to drink than those younger, 56% to 50%; and more white people (56%) drank than people of color (52%).
• The average number of drinks consumed over the past week fell to 2.8, down from 3.8 a year ago and less than half the 2003 peak.