The End of Drinking

While under any reasonable measurement, people drinking at record lows is a good thing, I do find it remarkable that this coincides with a massive mental health crisis through society, very much including young people who are driving the rapid collapse in alcohol consumption. I’m not saying that young people should drink more, I mean no one should poison themselves. I am saying that young people are drinking at record low rates, having sex at record low rates, and are constantly depressed. I suppose the connection is that people are on their fucking phones all the time, a cancer against all things decent and the inability to actually spend time with people is cutting down upon all activities that people have traditionally done with others, while also turning our brains to mush. So as people my age stop drinking or cut way back on drinking (me!), no one is replacing us.

The percentage of U.S. adults who say they consume alcohol has fallen to 54%, the lowest by one percentage point in Gallup’s nearly 90-year trend. This coincides with a growing belief among Americans that moderate alcohol consumption is bad for one’s health, now the majority view for the first time.

Gallup has tracked Americans’ drinking behavior since 1939 and their views of the health implications of moderate drinking since 2001. The latest results are from Gallup’s annual Consumption Habits survey, conducted July 7-21.

From 1997 to 2023, at least 60% of Americans reported drinking alcohol. The figure fell to 62% in 2023 and to 58% in 2024, before reaching 54% today. Prior to the most recent poll, the rate has been under 60% fewer than 10 times, including 58% in the initial 1939 poll and a one-time low of 55% recorded in 1958. The highs of 68% to 71% were all recorded between 1974 and 1981.

Ah, the 70s.

The consecutive declines in Americans’ reported drinking the past few years are unmatched in Gallup’s trend and coincide with recent research indicating that any level of alcohol consumption may negatively affect health. This has been a sharp reversal from previous recommendations that moderate drinking could offer some protective benefits.

Using 2023’s 62% as a baseline (because the 2022 reading of 67% is an outlier), the decline in drinking has been more pronounced among women (down 11 percentage points since 2023, to 51%) than among men (down five points, to 57%). Drinking has also declined 11 points among non-Hispanic White adults, while it has been fairly steady at around 50% among people of color.

Young adults had already become less likely to report drinking alcohol a decade ago, but that trend has only accelerated, with the rate falling from 59% in 2023 to 50% today. This puts their drinking rate below that of middle-aged and older adults, although fewer in those groups are also claiming to drink than did so two years ago.

There has been little difference in recent decades in the percentages of partisans saying they drink alcohol, but that has changed over the past two years, with a sharp drop in reported drinking among Republicans (falling 19 points, to 46%) but not Democrats (holding fairly steady at 61%).

Now that is fascinating! Why is it Republicans drinking less? Is it connected to the weird RFK health stuff? Is it because Trump doesn’t drink and they are following Dear Leader? Is it because Democrats are drinking more to deal with everything that this world has come to? I have no answers here.

At least the bourbon industry still has Farley though.