The patio at Seamus McDaniel’s bar on March 17, 2021 in St. Louis. A Gallup poll found that drinking by Americans’ remains at a record low. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo
Aug. 20 (UPI) — The percentage of Americans who say they consume alcohol remains at record-low levels, according to a new survey by Gallup.
Some 54% of adults surveyed last month said they drink alcohol – the same as last year – and the lowest mark since the analytics firm started surveying Americans on the topic in 1939.
“We saw a significant decline in people’s use of alcohol last year, but whether that was a one-time reaction or a trend, we had to wait and see,” Gallup Director of U.S. Social Research Lydia Saad told Time. “This year’s result tells us that whatever is happening out there is a sustained change. Drinking has gone down across all age groups.”
The percentage of drinks began falling in 2022, when it was at 67%. In the mid-1970s, it was 71%.
A record low 13% said they drink too much sometimes. According to Gallup, the “decline in drinking since 2023 is evident across most demographic groups.”
They survey showed that the percentage of Republicans and independents said they drank has dropped more than 10%. Meanwhile, Democrats saw a 1% decline. Some 63% of Democrats said they drink, compared with 53% of Republicans and half of independents.
Increased public awareness of the risks of alcohol use may be a cause of Americans drinking less, the results of the poll indicated. Just over half of Americans this year said alcohol is “bad for health,” up from 26% in 2016.
This year, 86% of those surveyed said they were aware of recent studies on alcohol’s long-term effects, up from 79% two years ago.
“The decline in alcohol use coincides with a sharp increase in concern about the health risks of drinking,” Saad told Time.
