While younger generations are drinking less, adults aged 50 to 64 are drinking more, causing a shift reshaping the US bar scene
Alcohol consumption has decreased across the United States in recent years, particularly among adults under age 40, but there is one older demographic in which more people are drinking than before the Covid-19 pandemic – and more are doing so heavily, according to a new study.
For the first time since before the pandemic, the percentage of US adults who drink any alcohol decreased between 2022 and 2024, according to the report in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. People from 50 to 64, which roughly corresponds with gen X, were the only age group in which drinking continued to increase.
They are likely hurting their health by imbibing, according to the latest science, but they are also helping keep open bars. Such businesses have struggled as younger generations, the drivers of nightlife, move away from booze.
Really wish alcohol could be banned, but I guess we tried that before…
Are you against recreational drugs? Or just alcohol?
Both
Well, recreational drugs include alcohol but I see your stance.
Yeah. You can ferment with live yeast caught on the wind, alcohol is not at all trivial to eliminate from society.
Guess the current solution of not letting people accrue wealth has done wonders for alcoholism prevention groups
I guess. I think younger generations are just generally trending more LOHAS, and alcohol is kind of the new smoking, like when I was young that started to seem uncool and old-coded. And now that I’m a middle-aged drinker and sometime-brewer I know how those old farts felt when us youngsters started telling them that smoking sucks, kills you, stinks, doesn’t belong in polite society, etc.
It feels fine, actually. I accept it. I hope it stays uncool and a whole generation of people moves on to something healthier. Mushrooms and eating the rich, ideally but I’ll take it all in stride. I’m not ready to quit drinking, but like with eating meat I can at least see the antis have sense on their side and I wish them well.
Personally I absolutely love a drink, a couple of times a month. I’d rather they banned guns, but guess my European is showing 😂
Alcohol is not the problem, binge drinking is the problem.
I mean, there is no “safe” amount of alcohol. Every drop you drink increases your risk of cancer and a slew of other problems.
To be clear, I drink now and then, so I’m not preaching.
the same is said about barbeque - especially smoking. I’m not quitting anytime soon.
We live in a society that fears it’s own shadow so much, we excise all joy from life, then wonder why we’re depressed.
surreal times.
Effect meet cause.
I swear to god both of my non-drinking kids make me want to drink more.
I quit drinking last year at 33 years old next month is one year. I didn’t do it because I had a drinking problem, I was drinking one pint of beer a week, if that and a six pack would last a month, if I even bought a six pack at that point.
It was just like all it did was make me angry, tired or an ass to be around and it was becoming a waste and I didn’t feel like it was doing anything for me and it was a fucking waste after a while.
I did have a few thoughts of I could take or leave it when I was depressed a few times and those were the worst because that means I was considering drinking more because I felt like shit and then I was like fuck this shit.
…
… Plus empty carbs and ngl, I like root beer more than alcoholic beer. I like coffee more than alcohol. I like weed more than alcohol. I Iike chocolate more than alcohol. I like biking more than alcohol. I like everything more than alcohol.
The only time a beer really hits the spot for me is after a hot day spent working outside. The first sip of a frothy cold beer is magic.
But even then that works just as well with non alcoholic beer
A can of Pepsi that’s in a cooler that’s been chilled for like two hours, those are crispyyyy.
Nobody is lining up for the $14 six pack at the grocery store. I’m not exaggerating, I’ve even cut back simply because I can’t justify the cost. I’m not paying a %50 increase for the same beer I bought six years ago.
I switched to hard liquor, much cheaper
I partially did. A bottle of cheap swill costs as much as a beer at a restaurant or pub.
Yep, I fully agree
$14 six pack is a bargain here. Most 4 packs are $25 in Australia. Steak night at the pub is strange as your beer costs more than your steak.
Isn’t meat production heavily subsidized by the government because corruption?
excuse me, what the fuck
i assume you meant the Min wage, yes its that low been for many decades. neither party in the us wants to change it significantly. some states have did thier own increases, but its not enough because COL.
It’s not. In comparison it’s about the same. The local minimum wage here is about $15, and federal is an astounding $7.25 where as yours is around $25. I’m just using the figures to say either way you have to work for at least an hour to get beer. A four pack of
niceactual beer is $20-25 or more if you like the higher end stuff like the 120 minute IPA it’s $40 for a four pack. I just drink trash now.Mate me too, I only buy cartoons (24packs) of the cheap stuff. Smithys was on sale yesterday for $50 so that’s the poison this week.
Wait, do Australians really call 24-packs of beer “cartoons”?
I want to verify this, but with how much search engines suck these days I fully expect that if I look up “Australian cartoons beer,” it will ignore the word “beer” and just return page after page of Bluey.
Carton*. Or chazzwozzer.
I meant cartons. We locally call them slabs
I think the best deal I can get is 24 cans of PBR for about $14 when it’s on sale.
That’s a bargain
Yeah it’s the best deal around, usually sells out in days.
Til a new word : imbibing - means drinking a liquid or, often informally, consuming alcoholic beverages.
Uh…. I guess I’m in the minority. 39 and drinking a box of wine (4 bottles) in a weekend with my partner and their other drinks may be involved + a gummy.
You’re not gen X lol
Hah, not this genx. 51 on dialysis for kidney failutre (fuck fascism) so I took my habit of hardly drinking down to no drinking.
Oof gl fellow lemming gl.
Their body, their choice. Sure hope that’s okay with prohibitionists who want to rape their way of life on the rest of us.
Dont worry. When humanity wins the war on drugs, sober people will not be persecuted, incarcerated and forced to do drugs.
Well, let their liver receive the penance of their vote for Orange Palpatine.
Pssh. I’m drinking because others voted FOR Orange Palpatine!
That makes 2 of us. I’ve got a bottle of Laphroaig waiting for when it happens.
Gen-X is drinking more? When did we drink less? :)
Bro. Let me give the yung’uns some advice: Don’t raw dog reality.
Wrong – rsw dog it because the earlier you find out what you like and dont like, the easier life becomes. Wasted about twenty years of my life because i would just drink to put up with stuff i didn’t like. Realized i could just stop drinking and stop doing the things i dont like and life is way easier now.
They’re at that age range where their house should be paid off by now, allowing them to have a few beers at a restaurant without maxing out their credit card.
every generation pickles itself when the life gets rough. it makes it a smidge more tolerable
Only while you’re actively drunk, it makes it harder the rest of the time.
true. dts suck heh
Those are the people that were already drinking
This Gen X stopped drinking for good.
Same
