Why Gen Z Is Drinking Less 

As Dry January begins, there is a generation that has already started to cut down on alcohol: Gen Z.

Data from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism indicate that alcohol consumption in the United States has increased in general. But research from the National Institute on Drug Abuse shows lifetime drinkers, last month drinkers, and last year drinkers among young people began to decline around the year 2000. This means that such declines have mainly impacted Generation Z, defined as anyone born from 1997 to 2012, and some Millennials, born between 1981. and 1996. A 2023 poll by Gallup found that the share of adults under the age of 35 who said they had ever drank fell by ten percentage points over two decades, to 62% in 2021-2023 from 72% in 2001-2003.

“It has become clear that, for whatever reason, today’s younger generations are simply less interested in alcohol and are more likely than older generations to see it as risky for their health and to participate in periods of abstinence as Dry January” said National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism George F. Koob in a statement.

There is no clear reason for the decline of alcohol among Gen Z, but experts point to a variety of factors.

One can be changing laws, including the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, which sets the age to purchase or publicly possess alcoholic beverages at 21. Before that, the minimum drinking age was 18.

The social reputation of alcohol has also changed. “It makes sense that older drinkers would drink more, since Baby Boomers were immersed in a heavier drinking culture,” Koob said..

Adjust Sybil Marsh, a doctor specializing in family medicine and addiction: “There was a time where drinking alcohol was a badge of maturity and was sophisticated. But now, it’s just one of a wide range of ways that people can relax or show sophistication and so on.”

Marijuana could be part of that change. The drug is legal in nearly half of all US states for recreational use. Almost 80% of Americans live in a county with at least one cannabis dispensary, according to the Pew Research Centerand cannabis has been put into drinks that are marketed to younger people the consumers. Koob says it’s not clear whether the decline in alcohol among Gen Z Americans has to do with a preference for the drug. The 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 36.5% of adults aged 18 to 25 use marijuana. in the past year. And if you look at the use of marijuana in life, about 1 in 2 adults in the same age group have at least tried marijuana, according to the same study. However, this study showed that the use of alcohol in the past year exceeded the use of marijuana, with 68.1% of the same age group consuming alcohol.

Another contributing factor has to do with the changing socialization patterns of younger generations. “Alcohol tends to be a social drug, even for young people, so some of the decline in underage drinking could be related to less in-person socializing,” Koob said. On average, the amount of time people spend with friends in person has decreased from 30 hours per month in 2003 to 10 hours per month in 2020, according to the US Surgeon General. advice on the loneliness epidemic. This decrease was particularly marked for people aged 15 to 24.

Marsh says that the younger generations are much more interested in a healthy lifestyle than past generations, and evolving alcohol marketing tactics reflect those changing values. “If you look at alcohol marketing, they stop short of saying that it’s healthy to have a few drinks, but that drinking can be part of a healthy lifestyle,” he says, “as opposed to the Gen X type of marketing. .that was like “hard party”.

There has been a wave of sober bars opening up across the United States—Hekate in New York City, Sans Bar in Austin, and The Sober Social in Atlanta, to name a few—to accommodate changing attitudes about alcohol.

Emerson Haven, a 26-year-old stage manager and student based in New York City, occasionally drinks in social settings, but often opts for a sober night for health reasons. “There is a history of alcoholism in my family, so I’m just careful about it. I never drink alcohol if I feel like a bad day, because I don’t want to create that association,” he says. “And then sometimes I just don’t like the feeling of being drunk.”