By Michaela Gordoni
A new poll reveals a record high number of Americans completely abstain from drinking.
Nearly half (46%) of Americans say they abstain from alcohol, which is the highest number in 90 years, per Gallup. The number increased sharply from 2023, when just 8% of Americans said they don’t drink, Relevant reported.
Gen Z and millennials are largely behind the trend. Only half of adults ages 18–34 say they drink, which is down by 59% from last year. Only 51% of women overall say they drink.
They seem to be catching on that alcohol is bad for you. Over half (53%) of Americans say even moderate drinking is unhealthy. In 2018, only 28% thought the same.
Related: Drinking Alcohol Can Drastically Shorten Your Life
“We know this generation is increasingly out in the world trying to find real community and camaraderie,” Willa Bennett, editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan and Seventeen, said recently. She added people don’t seem to need alcohol to have a good time anymore.
“People do want control of their image,” Bennett said. “People don’t want to give that up. It’s scary. What are the long term risks?”
The average number of drinks consumed per week has dropped to 2.8, which is the lowest Gallup has on record since the ’90s. Only 25% admitted they had a drink in the last 34 hours, and 40% said it has been over a week since their last drink.
The number of Republicans who say they drink has fallen to 46%, but Democrats have stayed at 61%.
Interestingly, households who make $40,000 or less annually dropped 14 points from 2023. Households who make $40-99,000 only dropped four points ,and those who make $100k or more dropped from 79% to 66%, Gallup reported.
This year, the U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, recommended a label be put on alcohol that explains its link to cancer.
“Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States — greater than the 13,500 alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities per year in the U.S. — yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk,” Murthy said in January.
“Older folks may be a little more hardened in terms of the whiplash that they get with recommendations,” said Gallup’s director of U.S. social research, Lydia Saad. “It may take them a little longer to absorb or accept the information. Whereas, for young folks, this is the environment that they’ve grown up in…in many cases, it would be the first thing young adults would have heard as they were coming into adulthood.”
The federal government recommends Americans abstain from alcohol. If they do drink, it says women should have only one drink or less, while men should have two at most, CBS News reported.
It seems that Americans are wising up when it comes to drinking. That’s something to celebrate.
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