Alcohol is the most widely consumed mood-altering substance in the world, and also the one that causes the most problems. Here are some facts and statistics on alcohol consumption in the U.S. and throughout the world.

1. Consumption of alcohol hit a 25-year high in 2010, when 67% of Americans reported drinking. (Morton, 2011) Beer remains the most popular beverage, followed by wine and liquor. (The Week, 8-13-2010, p. 19)

2. In the population as a whole, around 35% of people never drink, 37% are low-risk drinkers, 19% are high-risk drinkers, and 9% are extremely high risk. (Brophy-Marcus, 3-9-2009)

3. Among all drinkers, 24% report that they drink more than they should. (Newport, 2000)

4. Among those 50 and older, 19% of men and 13% of women had two or more drinks a day, considered to be heavy or “at-risk” drinking under the American Geriatric Society guidelines for older people. (Thompson, 8-17-2009)

5. Alcohol companies spend billions each year on advertising. Budweiser alone spends more money on advertising than is allocated for all research on alcoholism and alcohol abusers combined. (Kilbourne, 1989)

6. Americans actually consumed twice as much alcohol in 1830 as they do now (Hanson et al., 2004, p. 200), largely because the entire population-children included–drank alcohol to avoid the pathogens that often existed in their water supply.

Who drinks alcohol

1. Contrary to popular perceptions, white adults have the highest rates of alcohol consumption (86%), compared to 72% for African Americans and 69% for Hispanics. (Hanson et al., 2004, p. 200)

2. The higher the level of education a person has, the greater their likelihood of current alcohol use. Ninety-three percent of college graduates consume alcohol, along with 91% of those with some college, compared to 86% of high school graduates and 76% of those with less than a high school degree. Less affluent people also drink less than more affluent people. (ibid, p. 204)

3. Studies show millennials aren’t drinking any less than past generations, and millennial women are actually drinking more.

Women & alcohol

1. Drinking rates among women have been steadily rising. An analysis of the alcohol habits of 85,000 Americans in 2002 found that 47% of white women reported being regular drinkers, up from 37% in 1992. The percentage of black women who said they drink regularly also rose, from 21% to 30%, and among Hispanics from 29% to 32%. (Glaser, 2013)

2. According to the Wine Institute, an industry trade group, women buy the majority of the nearly 800 million gallons of wine sold in the U.S. each year, and they are also its primary drinkers. (Glaser, 2013)

3. If forced to pick one kind of alcohol, more than half of women pick wine, compared to 20% of men. (O’Rourke, 2013)

The cost of alcohol to society

1. Excessive drinking in the U.S. costs the country in excess of $224 billion each year, largely due to lost productivity, health care and criminal justice costs. (Time, Oct. 31, 2011, p. 18)

2. According to the National Institutes of Health, alcohol plays a major role in:

1. • 1. Approximately 60% of fatal burn injuries, drownings & homicides

     2. 50% of severe trauma injuries and sexual assaults

     3. 40% of fatal car crashes

     4. 40% of suicides & fatal falls (Brophy-Marcus, 2009)

Alcohol-related deaths

1. The CDC estimates that around 88,000 Americans die each year from alcohol-related causes, more than twice the # of deaths caused by opiates. (Combe, 2017)

2. Other studies put the death toll even higher, with more than 100,000 deaths each year in the U.S. (Hanson & Li, 2003) Alcohol-related deaths outnumber all other drug-related deaths (excluding tobacco) by a margin of 4 to 1. (Hanson et al., 2004, p. 178)