American drinking habits are changing.
Nearly half of American adults say they don’t touch alcohol, according to a 2025 Gallup survey. At 54%, the share of the population that drinks has reached its lowest level since the survey started in 1939.
Earlier this year, federal officials replaced the longstanding recommendation that adults limit themselves to no more than one drink a day for women and two for men with broader advice encouraging Americans to drink less. Critics, including many public health experts, argue that removing the specific limits makes the guidance less useful and reflects industry influence.
Some doctors and other health experts say this watered-down advice will be less effective in alerting the public to alcohol’s increasingly well-documented hazards. But perhaps folks are already getting the point, given Americans were already drinking less before the new guidance was issued.
Why the retreat from the bottle? Health concerns no doubt play a role. Alcohol has been linked to breast, bowel and liver cancers, among others, in addition to being bad for the brain and cardiovascular systems. Plenty of folks who have become dependent on the stuff can tell you it can ruin your life, and drunken driving causes mayhem on the roads. No amount of alcohol is “good for you.”