Lowest Rate Since 1939
Sharp Decline Among Conservatives
Influence of Trump and Other Abstinent Figures
The drinking rate among Americans has dropped to an all-time low. The photo shows people enjoying a party with beverages instead of alcohol and is unrelated to the article content. Photo by Pexels
The adult drinking rate in the United States has fallen to an all-time low.
On August 13 (local time), the UK’s Financial Times (FT) reported, citing a Gallup poll conducted in July 2025, that only 54% of American adults said they drink alcohol such as wine and beer. This is the lowest figure since Gallup began tracking the data in 1939. The previous record low was 55% in 1958.
The drinking rate, which had remained above 60% since 1997, dropped from 62% in 2023 to 58% in 2024, and then plummeted again this year. The decline was especially pronounced among women and non-Hispanic white adults. The drinking rate among women fell by 11 percentage points over the past year, reaching 51%, and non-Hispanic white adults saw a similar drop.
However, this trend toward abstinence was not limited to specific groups. Over the past two years, every demographic-including women, white adults, high-income earners, and low-income earners-experienced a decline in drinking rates of more than 10 percentage points.
By political affiliation, the shift among conservatives was particularly notable. The drinking rate among Republican supporters fell to 46%, nearly a one-third decrease compared to 2023. In contrast, the rate among Democratic supporters dropped by only 5% during the same period.
Experts attribute this trend to the influence of conservative figures such as President Donald Trump, who have publicly abstained from alcohol. President Trump is known to have avoided drinking after his brother died from alcoholism.
Both the frequency and quantity of drinking have also declined. Only 24% of adults reported drinking alcohol in the past 24 hours, the lowest since 1984, and the average number of drinks consumed in the past week was 2.8, the lowest since 1996. This shift in perception is also reflected in the numbers: for the first time, a majority (53%) of respondents in the Gallup poll said that even moderate drinking-one or two drinks a day-is harmful to health.
Experts believe that the decline in drinking rates is not due to a shift toward other recreational substances such as marijuana. Instead, they point to economic factors such as rising prices and financial pressures, as well as growing warnings about the link between alcohol and diseases such as cancer, as key reasons for the increasing aversion to alcohol.
Meanwhile, according to World Health Organization (WHO) data, as of 2020, South Korea ranked third in the world for binge drinking rates at 45.2%, following Luxembourg (48%) and Ireland (45.8%). The binge drinking rate refers to the proportion of people who have consumed more than 60 grams of alcohol in a single sitting in the past month, with 60 grams roughly equivalent to one bottle of soju.
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