It’s holiday season – which, for many of us, means seeing off 2025 by eating and drinking to excess before kickstarting the new year with unattainable resolutions, a gruelling exercise regimen, and Dry January.
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But for an increasing number of people, it’s not just Dry January. It’s Dry February, Dry March, Dry April, etcetera. And while typically drinking is associated with the young and the reckless, it is Gen Z who are less likely to indulge than their elders.
According to a recent Gallup poll, the number of adults who report consuming alcohol has fallen to a 90-year low. Just over half (54%) say they drink. That’s down from 58% in 2024 and 62% in 2023.
The same poll found that the number of drinks being quaffed per week may also be on the decline. Of those who drink, the average number consumed over a week fell to 2.8 in 2025 from 3.8 in 2024 and close to 4 in the seven years previous.
Meanwhile, an earlier survey from Gallup found that younger generations (think: Gen Z and young Millennials) may be driving the trend, with less than two-thirds of young people (those under 35) reporting they didn’t drink (62%), compared to 72% twenty years earlier.
But it is not just in the US. – The decline in drinking culture (particularly among younger generations) is a pattern reported in countries worldwide.
Across the Pacific, scientists at Flinders University found young Australians, born between 1997 and 2012, were seventeen times more likely to abstain from alcohol compared to their Boomer counterparts (1946 – 1965). Even those who do choose to drink are drinking less overall than their elders – a trend seen in both Millennials and Gen Z.
Meanwhile, in the UK, news outlets have reported that the average number of drinks per person fell to 10.2 in 2024 – down from 14 two decades prior.
What is behind this trend? The researchers at Flinders University pin the trend on a number of factors, some positive (think: increasing levels of health awareness) and others less so (think: rising living costs). Experts also point out that the shift towards drinking less being the new norm may also reduce the pressure to drink in order to fit in.
Those behind the 2023 Gallup poll also highlight health concerns, adding demographic changes and a switch to other substances as additional factors.
The same survey found booze may be trending down, but cannabis use has almost doubled among the 18-34 cohort since 2013.
Source Link: People Around The World Are Drinking Less Alcohol
