Number of Americans drinking alcohol hits new low as people face same concerns
It’s often reported that younger Millennials and Gen Z are living more straight-edge lifestyles, with alcohol consumption being the main casualty.
Considering alcohol is a pretty ruinous substance that increases and escalates crime, damages people’s health in the short and long terms, and is a major mortality risk, this is good news.
Now this trend is starting to bear out in the broadly American population, with the percentage of US adults self-reporting that they drink alcohol having dropped to 54%.
This is only one percentage point higher than the lowest recording taken by Gallup across a 90-year span.
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It’s in step with a growing belief in the US that even moderate drinking is bad for your health, with this recently having become a majority view for the first time.
Gallup conducts an annual Consumption Habits survey, with the 2025 edition running from 7 to 21 July. It’s been running the study each year since 1939.
Between 1997 and 2023, a minimum of 60% of Americans self-reported that they drink alcohol. The figure sat at 62% in 2023, then fell to 58% in 2024, and now to 54% in 2025.
The lowest-ever recording was 55%, taken in 1958. In the original 1939 poll, the figure stood at 58%. The highest figures were 68% and 71%, both of which were taken between 1974 and 1981.
Gallup’s data has never shown consecutive year-on-year declines like this, however. While it’s been commonly believed that moderate drinking may offer some health benefits, it seems as though the US public is turning its back on the idea.
The reduction in self-reported drinkers is most pronounced in women, with that cohort dropping from tge 62% baseline in 2023 to 51% in 2025. In men, the rate dropped to 57%.
Young people are among the least likely to report drinking, with the rate dropping from 59% in 2023 to just 50% in the latest data. While this means younger people are less likely to be drinkers than middle-aged and elderly adults, all of those groups have shown a decline in drinking rates over the same period.
Some have pointed to the availability of cannabis as a potential reason behind the drop, with 24 of the 50 states now having legalised its recreational use. It’s estimated that over 74% of the population now lives in a state where it’s legal for either medical or recreational use.
However, Gallup noted that while ‘marijuana use is higher today than a decade ago, it has been fairly steady over the past four years and thus doesn’t appear to be a factor in people choosing not to drink alcohol’.
Rachael Davis