Several countries around the world are seeing a decline in the amount of young people who drink alcohol.
Surveys and interviews across England and Australia reveal that the proportion of 16- to 24-year-olds who drank alcohol in the last week fell from 67 percent in 2002 to 37 percent in 2021. Further research suggests that drinking itself has become less routine and expected, while not drinking has become more socially acceptable.
Overall, trends show that today’s youth are less inclined to take risks than previous generations. This could be partly due to a society that creates a strong sense of pressure to succeed in life, including in the economic sense. It could also be related to the general trend toward health consciousness and temporary abstinence campaigns such as “Dry January.” What’s more, smoking and cannabis use seem to decrease as alcohol intake decreases, leading to a generation of young people who may be taking their overall health more seriously.
