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There's only "14.7 million daily drinkers" in the US?

by elwell 2y ago

throwanem 2y ago
To be honest, I'm a little surprised it's that high.
0_____0 2y ago
as someone who used to drink daily but stopped, I found that I dramatically overestimated how much the average USian drinks. when you're surrounded by drinkers it's an easy mistake to make.
delecti 2y ago
Drinking is very unevenly distributed. Most people don't drink much, and many people don't drink at all.
throwaway5959 2y ago
I’m surprised it’s that high. Yikes.
- Trasmatta 2y ago
  There are about 260,836,730 adults over the age of 18 in the US as of 2022, so 14.7 million daily drinkers seems relatively low: https://datacenter.aecf.org/data/tables/6538-adult-population-by-age-group#detailed/1/any/false/1095,2048,574,1729,37,871,870,573,869,36/117,2801,2802,2803/13515,13516 https://datacenter.aecf.org/data/tables/6538-adult-populatio...
drlemonpepper 2y ago
yeah. a bit suspicious. that's < 5% of the US population. highly dubious.
- ars 2y ago
  For daily drinking? Why is that dubious - most people drink occasionally, not daily.
  - brabel 2y ago
    I think there's a lot of people that drink a glass of wine at dinner maybe? They're not by any means alcoholics but would be included in that 5%, which seems expected I guess.
    - ImPostingOnHN 2y ago
      It's possible that those who drink wine daily, both cluster together and reinforce each other. Thus, it may seem like a significant proportion of the population from the perspective of someone who does, or hangs around at least 1 such person.
  - popcalc 2y ago
    In Hungary, it seems maybe half the male population drinks daily.
- ysavir 2y ago
  Seems about right to me, if not high. Keep in mind that this isn't the number of Americans that consume alcohol, but the number of Americans that consume alcohol on a daily basis. People that drink on the weekends, or a few times a week after work, don't qualify. 1 in 20 seems a bit high to me, but within the ballpark.
- floor2 2y ago
  This thread is fascinating for highlighting that what seems normal to one person seems rare to another. I'm not sure I know a single "daily drinker". Even the people who had reputations as being heavy drinkers I don't think drank every day. Drinking daily sounds like something someone in recovery would talk about as the final stage of their spiral towards rock bottom before they went to rehab, not something I'd expect 1 in 20 people to be doing. But maybe I'm underestimating how many people have one glass of wine with dinner or one beer after work.
  - digital_sawzall 2y ago
    Before becoming a techie I did construction work and nearly every person drank beer after (and often during) work. It was a way to alleviate the pain from hard manual labor.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - gopher_space 2y ago
    Heavy manual labor jobs almost require two beers in the evening if you don’t have a bathtub to soak in.
- xboxnolifes 2y ago
  I forget the exact statistic, but something like 10% of Americans drinks 90% of the alcohol.
alwaysrunning 2y ago
I was surprised too, a quick search produced something a bit different. "The top 10 percent of American drinkers - 24 million adults over age 18 - consume, on average, 74 alcoholic drinks per week" https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/09/25/think-you-drink-a-lot-this-chart-will-tell-you/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/09/25/think...
- vundercind 2y ago
  Perhaps a lot of them binge hard a couple days a week, dropping them out of the “daily drinker” category? Does seem weird.
  - thatswrong0 2y ago
    I mean I’ve gone through parts of my life where I’d have close to 10-12 beers a day over the course of the entire day… womp womp Long distance binge drinking
- eurleif 2y ago
  There are some issues with that claim: https://whatifpost.com/no-10-of-adults-dont-have-more-than-ten-drinks-a-day.htm https://whatifpost.com/no-10-of-adults-dont-have-more-than-t...
  - alwaysrunning 2y ago
    Yeah it was surprising but this is from NIH, they didn't have a stat for daily drinkers so I took the most extreme. According to the 2022 NSDUH, 16.0 million adults ages 18 and older reported heavy alcohol use in the past month (see glossary for definition of heavy alcohol use) Heavy alcohol use (or heavy drinking): NIAAA defines heavy alcohol use as follows: For men, consuming five or more drinks on any day or 15 or more per week For women, consuming four or more drinks on any day or 8 or more per week https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohol-topics/alcohol-facts-and-statistics/alcohol-use-united-states-age-groups-and-demographic-characteristics https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohol-to...

There's only "14.7 million daily drinkers" in the US?

by elwell 2y ago

There's only "14.7 million daily drinkers" in the US?

throwanem 2y ago

To be honest, I'm a little surprised it's that high.

0_____0 2y ago

as someone who used to drink daily but stopped, I found that I dramatically overestimated how much the average USian drinks. when you're surrounded by drinkers it's an easy mistake to make.

delecti 2y ago

Drinking is very unevenly distributed. Most people don't drink much, and many people don't drink at all.

throwaway5959 2y ago

I’m surprised it’s that high. Yikes.

Trasmatta 2y ago
There are about 260,836,730 adults over the age of 18 in the US as of 2022, so 14.7 million daily drinkers seems relatively low: https://datacenter.aecf.org/data/tables/6538-adult-population-by-age-group#detailed/1/any/false/1095,2048,574,1729,37,871,870,573,869,36/117,2801,2802,2803/13515,13516 https://datacenter.aecf.org/data/tables/6538-adult-populatio...

drlemonpepper 2y ago

yeah. a bit suspicious. that's < 5% of the US population. highly dubious.

ars 2y ago
For daily drinking? Why is that dubious - most people drink occasionally, not daily.
- brabel 2y ago
  I think there's a lot of people that drink a glass of wine at dinner maybe? They're not by any means alcoholics but would be included in that 5%, which seems expected I guess.
  - ImPostingOnHN 2y ago
    It's possible that those who drink wine daily, both cluster together and reinforce each other. Thus, it may seem like a significant proportion of the population from the perspective of someone who does, or hangs around at least 1 such person.
- popcalc 2y ago
  In Hungary, it seems maybe half the male population drinks daily.
ysavir 2y ago
Seems about right to me, if not high. Keep in mind that this isn't the number of Americans that consume alcohol, but the number of Americans that consume alcohol on a daily basis. People that drink on the weekends, or a few times a week after work, don't qualify. 1 in 20 seems a bit high to me, but within the ballpark.
floor2 2y ago
This thread is fascinating for highlighting that what seems normal to one person seems rare to another. I'm not sure I know a single "daily drinker". Even the people who had reputations as being heavy drinkers I don't think drank every day. Drinking daily sounds like something someone in recovery would talk about as the final stage of their spiral towards rock bottom before they went to rehab, not something I'd expect 1 in 20 people to be doing. But maybe I'm underestimating how many people have one glass of wine with dinner or one beer after work.
- digital_sawzall 2y ago
  Before becoming a techie I did construction work and nearly every person drank beer after (and often during) work. It was a way to alleviate the pain from hard manual labor.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- gopher_space 2y ago
  Heavy manual labor jobs almost require two beers in the evening if you don’t have a bathtub to soak in.
xboxnolifes 2y ago
I forget the exact statistic, but something like 10% of Americans drinks 90% of the alcohol.

alwaysrunning 2y ago

I was surprised too, a quick search produced something a bit different. "The top 10 percent of American drinkers - 24 million adults over age 18 - consume, on average, 74 alcoholic drinks per week" https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/09/25/think-you-drink-a-lot-this-chart-will-tell-you/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/09/25/think...

vundercind 2y ago
Perhaps a lot of them binge hard a couple days a week, dropping them out of the “daily drinker” category? Does seem weird.
- thatswrong0 2y ago
  I mean I’ve gone through parts of my life where I’d have close to 10-12 beers a day over the course of the entire day… womp womp Long distance binge drinking
eurleif 2y ago
There are some issues with that claim: https://whatifpost.com/no-10-of-adults-dont-have-more-than-ten-drinks-a-day.htm https://whatifpost.com/no-10-of-adults-dont-have-more-than-t...
- alwaysrunning 2y ago
  Yeah it was surprising but this is from NIH, they didn't have a stat for daily drinkers so I took the most extreme. According to the 2022 NSDUH, 16.0 million adults ages 18 and older reported heavy alcohol use in the past month (see glossary for definition of heavy alcohol use) Heavy alcohol use (or heavy drinking): NIAAA defines heavy alcohol use as follows: For men, consuming five or more drinks on any day or 15 or more per week For women, consuming four or more drinks on any day or 8 or more per week https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohol-topics/alcohol-facts-and-statistics/alcohol-use-united-states-age-groups-and-demographic-characteristics https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohol-to...