Per capita alcohol consumption in the United States has increased in the past couple of decades to reach 2.51 gallons of ethanol per capita in 2021. Beer has accounted for the largest share of the alcohol market in the United States over most of the last decade, but was overtaken by spirits for the first time in 2022. Health risks Constant and excessive alcohol use has been shown to cause many health complications and increase the risk of many diseases. For example, alcohol consumption increases the risk of various types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and liver disease. The cost of such health complications from alcohol is substantial. As of 2020, it was estimated that the health care costs alone from the abuse of alcohol in the United States were around 27 billion dollars a year. Liver cirrhosis A common health complication from the abuse of alcohol is liver cirrhosis. Cirrhosis is scarring of the liver from repeated injury. It can cause other health complications such as high blood pressure, bleeding, and infection, and can result in early death if left untreated. In 2019, there were over 24,000 alcohol-related liver cirrhosis deaths in the United States, almost double the number reported 15 years earlier.

Alcohol consumption among the US public is at a relatively similar rate in the 21st century as it was in the nineteenth. The first drop in consumption appeared in the 1860s and 1870s, due to the American Civil War and the period of economic recovery that followed. After this, consumption rose again until the First World War, before it fell from 9.7 liters per person per year in 1915 to 7.4 in 1919. Following the war, the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution came into effect, which prohibited the importation, manufacturing and sale (but not consumption) of alcohol. From this point until Prohibition's end, there are no reliable figures regarding alcohol consumption in the US, however some sources suggest that consumption fell to thirty percent of its pre-prohibition levels in the first few years, but then grew to sixty or seventy percent by prohibition's end.

High spirits in the 70s and 80s

Total consumption then grew again in the 1930s and 40s, reaching 8.7 liters per person in 1946, before it plateaued at around 7.6 liters per person per year in the 1950s. Alcohol consumption then increased gradually to more than ten liters per person per year in the 1970s and 1980s, which was the highest rate of alcohol consumption in recorded US history. It then dropped to just over eight liters in the late 1990s, and gradually increased again to 8.9 liters per person in 2013, which is similar to figures recorded more than 160 years previously.

Beer moves a-head

The late 1800s also saw a major shift in the type of alcohol consumed. In 1850, 7.1 out of the eight liters consumed was through spirits, while beer and wine made up 0.5 and 0.3 liters respectively. However, by the turn of the twentieth century, alcohol was most commonly consumed through beer, and excluding a brief increase in spirits consumption in the 1960s, beer has been the most common source of alcohol since 1900. Alcohol from wine consumption has also gradually increased throughout US history, reaching its highest point in 2013, where the average US citizen consumed 1.6 liters of alcohol per year by drinking wine.

United States US: Total Alcohol Consumption per Capita: Liters of Pure Alcohol: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+ data was reported at 9.800 Number in 2016. United States US: Total Alcohol Consumption per Capita: Liters of Pure Alcohol: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+ data is updated yearly, averaging 9.800 Number from Dec 2016 (Median) to 2016, with 1 observations. United States US: Total Alcohol Consumption per Capita: Liters of Pure Alcohol: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+ data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.World Bank: Health Statistics. Total alcohol per capita consumption is defined as the total (sum of recorded and unrecorded alcohol) amount of alcohol consumed per person (15 years of age or older) over a calendar year, in litres of pure alcohol, adjusted for tourist consumption.; ; World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).; Weighted Average;

The per capita alcohol consumption of beer in the United States has gradually decreased since the 1980s. In 2021, per capita alcohol consumption of beer was **** gallons of ethanol (pure alcohol). Binge drinking Binge drinking is defined as five or more drinks for men and four or more drinks for women within a two-hour period. The states with the highest prevalence of binge drinking are North Dakota, Iowa, and South Dakota. In 2023, around ** percent of adults in North Dakota binge drank in the past month. Utah had the lowest rates of binge drinking at that time. Alcohol and health Long-term health risks from excessive alcohol use include heart disease, stroke, liver disease, cancer, as well as mental health problems such as depression and anxiety. Since the year 2000, the death rate from alcohol-related liver cirrhosis in the U.S. has increased. Liver cirrhosis results from long-term damage to the liver, perhaps from alcohol abuse, that results in normal tissue being replaced with scar tissue and therefore causing the liver to not function properly.

United States US: Alcohol Consumption Rate: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+: Male data was reported at 15.800 NA in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 15.000 NA for 2010. United States US: Alcohol Consumption Rate: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+: Male data is updated yearly, averaging 15.400 NA from Dec 2010 (Median) to 2016, with 2 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 15.800 NA in 2016 and a record low of 15.000 NA in 2010. United States US: Alcohol Consumption Rate: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+: Male data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Total alcohol per capita consumption is defined as the total (sum of recorded and unrecorded alcohol) amount of alcohol consumed per person (15 years of age or older) over a calendar year, in litres of pure alcohol, adjusted for tourist consumption.; ; World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).; Weighted average;

Total alcohol consumption per capita (liters of pure alcohol, projected estimates, 15+ years of age) in North America was reported at 9.6022 Years in 2019, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. North America - Total alcohol consumption per capita (liters of pure alcohol, projected estimates, 15+ years of age) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.

United States US: Alcohol Consumption Rate: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+: Female data was reported at 4.100 NA in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 3.900 NA for 2010. United States US: Alcohol Consumption Rate: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+: Female data is updated yearly, averaging 4.000 NA from Dec 2010 (Median) to 2016, with 2 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4.100 NA in 2016 and a record low of 3.900 NA in 2010. United States US: Alcohol Consumption Rate: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+: Female data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Total alcohol per capita consumption is defined as the total (sum of recorded and unrecorded alcohol) amount of alcohol consumed per person (15 years of age or older) over a calendar year, in litres of pure alcohol, adjusted for tourist consumption.; ; World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).; Weighted average;

This dataset provides alcohol use prevalence estimates for any drinking by county, year, and sex for all states and counties, the District of Columbia, and the US as a whole for 2002-2012. "Any" drinking defined as at least one drink of any alcoholic beverage in the past 30 days. The data also include changes by percent for the period.

Across generational cohorts, there is a large amount of variance in terms the frequency of alcohol consumption. In 2019, around *** percent of Millennials in the United States between the ages of 18 to 27 years consumed alcohol on a daily basis, while **** percent of U.S. members of the Silent Generation drank alcohol every day.

Germany DE: Alcohol Consumption Rate: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+: Female data was reported at 5.900 NA in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 5.700 NA for 2010. Germany DE: Alcohol Consumption Rate: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+: Female data is updated yearly, averaging 5.800 NA from Dec 2010 (Median) to 2016, with 2 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 5.900 NA in 2016 and a record low of 5.700 NA in 2010. Germany DE: Alcohol Consumption Rate: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+: Female data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Germany – Table DE.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Total alcohol per capita consumption is defined as the total (sum of recorded and unrecorded alcohol) amount of alcohol consumed per person (15 years of age or older) over a calendar year, in litres of pure alcohol, adjusted for tourist consumption.; ; World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).; Weighted average;

This data set contains the per capita (persons aged 14+) consumption of ethanol (in gallons) for each state and Washington D.C. for the years 1977-2016. This includes total ethanol consumed as well as consumption by three categories: beer, wine, and spirits. The PDF includes a method to convert the data into different units such as number of beers, glasses of wine, and shots of spirit.This data comes from a report by Sarah P. Haughwout and Dr. Megan E. Slater at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. That report is one of the files available to download and is included as it explains the methodology the two authors used for the data. I am not affiliated with the report at all. The only work that I did was to take the PDF and scrape the data from Table 4 (Per capita ethanol consumption for States, census regions, and the United States, 1977-2016) into R and save it in various formats for easy use. For the code uses to clean and read the data, and the tests to ensure my code is accurate, please see my GitHub file here: https://github.com/jacobkap/alcoholI downloaded the PDF from here: https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/surveillance110/CONS16.htm

Japan JP: Alcohol Consumption Rate: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+: Male data was reported at 13.500 NA in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 12.000 NA for 2010. Japan JP: Alcohol Consumption Rate: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+: Male data is updated yearly, averaging 12.750 NA from Dec 2010 (Median) to 2016, with 2 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 13.500 NA in 2016 and a record low of 12.000 NA in 2010. Japan JP: Alcohol Consumption Rate: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+: Male data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Japan – Table JP.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Total alcohol per capita consumption is defined as the total (sum of recorded and unrecorded alcohol) amount of alcohol consumed per person (15 years of age or older) over a calendar year, in litres of pure alcohol, adjusted for tourist consumption.; ; World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).; Weighted average;

Graph and download economic data for Expenditures: Alcoholic Beverages by Age: from Age 25 to 34 (CXUALCBEVGLB0403M) from 1984 to 2023 about alcoholic beverages, age, 25 years +, expenditures, and USA.

Russia RU: Alcohol Consumption Rate: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+: Female data was reported at 5.800 NA in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 7.300 NA for 2010. Russia RU: Alcohol Consumption Rate: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+: Female data is updated yearly, averaging 6.550 NA from Dec 2010 (Median) to 2016, with 2 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 7.300 NA in 2010 and a record low of 5.800 NA in 2016. Russia RU: Alcohol Consumption Rate: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+: Female data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Russian Federation – Table RU.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Total alcohol per capita consumption is defined as the total (sum of recorded and unrecorded alcohol) amount of alcohol consumed per person (15 years of age or older) over a calendar year, in litres of pure alcohol, adjusted for tourist consumption.; ; World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).; Weighted average;

This statistic lists the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean with the highest annual per capita consumption of alcohol in 2016. That year, Uruguay had the highest alcohol consumption among its population aged 15 years and older with more than *** liters of pure alcohol consumed per capita yearly.To find out more about the Latin American and Caribbean countries with the lowest per capita consumption of alcohol in 2016, click here. For a more comprehensive list of the alcohol consumption in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2016, click here.

Syria SY: Alcohol Consumption Rate: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+: Female data was reported at 0.100 NA in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 0.200 NA for 2010. Syria SY: Alcohol Consumption Rate: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+: Female data is updated yearly, averaging 0.150 NA from Dec 2010 (Median) to 2016, with 2 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.200 NA in 2010 and a record low of 0.100 NA in 2016. Syria SY: Alcohol Consumption Rate: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+: Female data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Syrian Arab Republic – Table SY.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Total alcohol per capita consumption is defined as the total (sum of recorded and unrecorded alcohol) amount of alcohol consumed per person (15 years of age or older) over a calendar year, in litres of pure alcohol, adjusted for tourist consumption.; ; World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).; Weighted average;

New Hampshire is currently the state with the highest per capita alcohol consumption in the United States. Per capita alcohol consumption has increased since the mid-1990s, with beer as the most commonly consumed alcoholic beverage. The beer market in the U.S. was estimated to amount to over *** billion dollars by 2029. Binge drinking Although New Hampshire consumes the highest amount of alcohol per capita, it reports lower rates of binge drinking than other states. The states with the highest binge drinking rates include North Dakota, Iowa, and South Dakota. Binge drinking is typically defined as the consumption of 5 or more drinks within 2 hours for men and 4 or more drinks within 2 hours for women. Binge drinking is the most common form of excessive alcohol use and is associated with serious risks. Binge drinking risks Health risks associated with binge drinking include cancer, chronic diseases such as liver disease and heart disease, alcohol dependence, and unintentional injury such as from car crashes. Although the dangers of drinking and driving are clear, it remains a problem across the United States. In 2023, around 7** percent of those aged 21 to 25 reported driving a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol in the preceding year.

Netherlands NL: Total Alcohol Consumption per Capita: Liters of Pure Alcohol: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+ data was reported at 8.700 Number in 2016. Netherlands NL: Total Alcohol Consumption per Capita: Liters of Pure Alcohol: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+ data is updated yearly, averaging 8.700 Number from Dec 2016 (Median) to 2016, with 1 observations. Netherlands NL: Total Alcohol Consumption per Capita: Liters of Pure Alcohol: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+ data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Netherlands – Table NL.World Bank: Health Statistics. Total alcohol per capita consumption is defined as the total (sum of recorded and unrecorded alcohol) amount of alcohol consumed per person (15 years of age or older) over a calendar year, in litres of pure alcohol, adjusted for tourist consumption.; ; World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).; Weighted Average;

This study was designed to examine the individual and situational factors that are likely to be related to airline passengers' use of alcohol. Specifically, the study sought to identify individual characteristics (e.g., gender, age, reason for travel) that are associated with the amount of alcohol that airline passengers consume in-flight, identify situational characteristics (e.g., duration of flight, time of day, day of week) that are associated with the amount of alcohol that airline passengers consume in-flight, and to quantify the proportion of airline passengers for whom high levels of alcohol consumption may pose a risk to others (i.e., those with a history of alcohol-related aggression, those sitting in an emergency exit row, and those who plan to drive after deplaning). Respondents were asked details about their flight on the day of the survey, occurrence of air travel as well as information on their drinking and cigarette habits. Demographic variables include respondents' race, age, gender, education level, and household income.

Bahamas BS: Total Alcohol Consumption per Capita: Liters of Pure Alcohol: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+ data was reported at 4.394 l/Person in 2019. This records an increase from the previous number of 4.361 l/Person for 2015. Bahamas BS: Total Alcohol Consumption per Capita: Liters of Pure Alcohol: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+ data is updated yearly, averaging 4.394 l/Person from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2019, with 5 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4.830 l/Person in 2000 and a record low of 4.326 l/Person in 2010. Bahamas BS: Total Alcohol Consumption per Capita: Liters of Pure Alcohol: Projected Estimates: Aged 15+ data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Bahamas – Table BS.World Bank.WDI: Social: Health Statistics. Total alcohol per capita consumption is defined as the total (sum of recorded and unrecorded alcohol) amount of alcohol consumed per person (15 years of age or older) over a calendar year, in litres of pure alcohol, adjusted for tourist consumption.;World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).;Weighted average;This is the Sustainable Development Goal indicator 3.5.2[https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/].