14 Aug 2025 America’s changing drinking habits
Pour one out for the alcohol industry — only 54% of Americans say they imbibe alcoholic beverages, marking the lowest number in the 90 years of Gallup polling.
Gallup’s annual Consumption Habits survey revealed that health concerns — possibly stemming from new data showing an increased risk of seven types of cancer from even limited drinking — are killing people’s buzzes:
- For the first time in the history of the survey, more than half (53%) of respondents said moderate drinking (1 or 2 drinks per day) is unhealthy.
- And those who still drink are doing less of it. Forty percent said it’s been more than a week since their last drink, the highest percentage since 2000.
- It’s every demographic. Rates of consumption have fallen within every category you can imagine in the last two years, including age, income level, gender, and even political affiliation.
- Only 46% of Republicans reported drinking this year, a drop of 19 points from two years ago. Democrats dipped three points from 64% to 61% over that period.
Joint pain?
While some observers have connected falling alcohol sales to the rise of recreational marijuana, Gallup director of social research Lydia Saad said rolling fatties doesn’t appear to be causing the seismic shift.
If not weed, then what? No one has any money.
That’s essentially what Barclays beverage analyst Laurence Whyatt told the Financial Times, though he sees the economic outlook improving long term. In the meantime, nicotine is the preferred vice over beer:
- The share prices of British American Tobacco, Altria Group, and Philip Morris are up this year, the Wall Street Journal noted.
- Meanwhile, the stocks of Molson Coors and Constellation are down. Anheuser-Busch is up nearly 23% this year, but its beer sales have fallen for nine straight quarters.
With 66% of 18-to-34-year-olds believing that drinking in moderation is bad for your health, we may be witnessing the end of America’s obsession with alcohol.
Source: MorningBrew.com