According to newly published research by Gallup, this milestone coincides with the view among Americans that “moderate alcohol consumption is bad for one’s health”, which is now the majority view for the first time.

The data revealed that in 2025, 54% of Americans report to drink alcohol - only the 10^th year since 1939 that the figure has been under 60%, and the consecutive declines since 2022 are “unmatched in Gallup’s trend and coincide with recent research indicating that any level of alcohol consumption may negatively affect health”.

Americans who say drinking in moderation (one or two drinks a day), is bad for one’s health has risen to an all-time high of 53%, up from 28% in 2018 and 39% in 2023.

From 2001 to 2011, this view hovered around 25%, similar to the rate of people who believed moderate drinking to be beneficial. The latter view was shared by just 6% of Americans in the latest poll.

Young adults, aged 18-34, are most likely to believe that moderate drinking is bad for one’s health, with 66% prescribing to the viewpoint. But it’s older adults (aged 55 and older) where the belief is growing at the fastest rate, in 2023, 29% held the perception that alcohol is bad for health, in 2025 that percentage had risen to 48%.

Those who do continue to drink are also drinking less. 24% of drinkers said they had consumed alcohol in the last 24 hours, a record-low, while 40% said it had been more than a week since they consumed alcohol, the highest figures since the turn of the millennium.