Statista reported the expected average revenue per capita for beverages in 2023 and 2025, with an anticipated $429 being spent on beer, $315 on spirits, and $231 on wine in 2025. In fact, according to one source quoted in the article, rose, white, and sparkling wines are outpacing red wines. BevAlc Insights also suggests that “sparkling rose wines will experience above average growth in 2022.” While these wines only account for a small share, 2.5% of the wine category, compared to 2020, sparkling rose “was up nearly 50 percent year-over-year in 2021.” The cost of excessive alcohol use in the United States reached $249 billion in 2010, or about $2.05 per drink. Binge drinking is defined as drinking four or more alcoholic beverages per occasion for women or five or more drinks per occasion for men. Further, 2 of every 5 dollars were paid by federal, state, and local governments, demonstrating that we are all paying for excessive alcohol use.
At the southern end of the state, San Diego also spent big on booze, with average expenditures exceeding $850. The only other metropolitan area to spend as much was Minneapolis, although other Midwestern urban areas also had strong drinking cultures. Residents of Cleveland and St. Louis also spent more than 1 percent of their average income on alcohol.
Total alcoholic beverage sales in the United States from 2006 to 2022
This interactive chart shows the average share of household expenditure that is spent on alcohol. This is given as the share of adults aged 15 years and older who have drunk alcohol within the previous year. Alcohol has historically, and continues to, hold an important role in social engagement and bonding for many. Consumers are looking for a beverage made with natural ingredients and coloring for the overall beverage category.
Between 2022 and 2026, the no-alcohol category is expected to increase in volume by 25%, while the low-alcohol category will increase by 6%. The following table contains data from two sources with consumption statistics segmented based on age range/generation. Experts say we should see more craft beers, including hazy IPAs, lower alcohol IPAs, lagers, sour beers, rose beers, and fresh hop beers.
The National Restaurant Association suggests that “uniquely spiced cocktail rims (Tajin, togarashi, etc.)” will be trending in 2022. Hasegawa, the following are examples of beer and food pairings based on the beer’s flavor profile. As a Premium user you get access to the detailed source references and background information about this statistic. Industry-specific and extensively researched technical data (partially from exclusive partnerships). The data produced by third parties and made available by Our World in Data is subject to the license terms from the original third-party authors.
Alcohol-related deaths by age
The prevalence of alcohol dependence in men is typically higher than in women across all countries. This chart is shown for the global total but can be explored for any country or region using the “Change country or region” toggle. Alcohol money could be used for other luxuries, which would likely deliver more lasting enjoyment. Instead of resigning themselves to more adult children of alcoholics and more spending on drinking, consumers are free to invest in better sources of relief than booze. Among all the RTD options, off-premise growth was the highest for spirits seltzers and spirits RTD cocktails, with vodka-based RTDs accounting for 58% of the dollar share. The next highest dollar share was for tequila-based RTDs, but the share was much lower at 17%.
- The ‘disease burden’ – measured in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) – considers mortality and years lived with disability or health burden.
- That doesn’t mean Americans aren’t drinking in large quantities, however.
- It is possible to switch this data to any other country or region in the world.
Typically, 5 to 10 percent of adults across these regions drank in the preceding year, and in a number of countries, this was below 5 percent. In fact, you’re welcome to share our images and information with your own audience for any noncommercial bath salts drug use. While not exclusive to RTDs, according to Flavorman.com, 2022 beverage trends will be based on “the long-term effects of an ongoing pandemic…focus[ing] on celebrating life’s simple pleasures while striving for balance.”
While none of these cities lack for establishments serving or selling liquor, residents spent less than $500 a year on drinking on average. These estimates update two previous CDC studies that found excessive drinking cost the U.S. $223.5 billion and cost states and D.C. Many of the risk factors for alcohol dependency are similar to those of overall drug use disorders (including illicit drug disorders).
Between 1996 and 2016, the average amount Americans spent on alcohol annually rose by $175. But how much of increased spending is attributable to rising alcohol prices, and how much results from Americans simply drinking more? To find out, we juxtaposed the typical American’s alcohol expenses with the average price of wine and malt beverages in each year. It turns out that beer prices surged over 61 percent during that time, and wine prices increased by over 150 percent since 1996. What some suggest should be the fourth category of alcoholic beverages, sales of ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages increased from “7 percent in 2019 to 11 percent for the first half of 2021,” with several sources indicating that the RTD market will continue to grow. In fact, the market share for hard seltzer decreased slightly between 2020 and 2021 due to “increased competition from crossover categories like RTDs.”
Rate of premature deaths due to alcohol
Although those in lower income or educational status groups often drink less overall, they are more likely to have lower-frequency, higher-intensity drinking patterns. Overall, these groups drink less, but a higher percentage will drink heavily when they do. Data on the share who don’t drink alcohol by gender and age group in the UK is available here. When we look at gender differences, we see that in all countries, men have a higher alcohol consumption than women. Again, the prevalence of drinking across North Africa and the Middle East is notably lower than elsewhere.
Our findings suggest that older Americans increased their alcohol spending dramatically, which resonates with growing public health concerns pertaining to baby boomers and booze. In a related finding, retired professionals spent 186 percent more money barbiturates: uses side effects and risks on alcohol. Conversely, those younger than 25 spent less in 2016 than in 1996, attesting to a trend in millennials choosing to live sober. In the chart, we see the prevalence of alcohol dependence versus the average per capita alcohol consumption.
Alcohol segments
As in years past, this article summarizes data from several different sources to help readers understand what is happening in the alcoholic beverage space. Conversely, some metropolitan areas spent relatively modestly on alcohol. These included some major Southern population centers, including Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Tampa. Additionally, New York and Chicago ranked in the bottom five in terms of average alcohol expenditures.
The average number of drinks consumed in the previous seven days also decreased. In 2019, consumers aged 18 years and older drank, on average, 4.0 drinks in a seven-day period, but in 2021 that average was 3.6 drinks. The results in the chart show the increased risk of developing alcohol dependency (we show results for illicit drug dependency in our topic page on drug use) for someone with a given mental health disorder (relative to those without).
According to our data, recent decades have seen a definite surge in spending on alcohol, particularly in some places and populations. Pertaining to price, those priced at $15 and above experienced positive growth in sales compared to 2020, with the greatest growth for wines at the $25 and high price tier. NielsenIQ reported that growth was driven by super-premium (75cl bottle priced between $15.99 and $29.99) and ultra-premium (between $30 and $49.99) price tiers. Regarding differences based on demographics, Gallup provided insight into what beverage U.S. adults aged 18 and older drank “most often” in 2021.
Other statistics that may interest you
Heavy episodic drinking is defined as the proportion of adult drinkers who have had at least 60 grams or more of pure alcohol on at least one occasion in the past 30 days. An intake of 60 grams of pure alcohol is approximately equal to 6 standard alcoholic drinks. In South Africa and Papua New Guinea, more than half of all traffic deaths are attributable to alcohol consumption.
At the country level, as shown in the chart, this ranges from around 0.5 to 5 percent of the population. Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake rather than the total quantity of the beverage. Wine contains around 12% pure alcohol per volume, so that one liter of wine contains 0.12 liters of pure alcohol. Beer contains around 5% of pure alcohol per volume1 so that one liter of beer contains 0.05 liters of pure alcohol. The comparison of this map with the previous maps makes clear that heavy drinking is not necessarily most common in the same countries where alcohol consumption is most common. The map shows heavy drinkers – those who had an episode of heavy drinking in the previous 30 days – as a share of total drinkers (i.e., those who have drunk less than one alcoholic drink in the last 12 months are excluded).