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Heavy Drinking Rises Sharply Among Americans Aged 50 to 64 as Younger Generations Cut Back
A new study finds alcohol use declined overall for the first time since the pandemic, but heavy drinking surged by more than 36% among adults aged 50 to 64, while Gen Z and millennials drank less.
Alcohol consumption among U.S. adults has fallen for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, but one age group is moving in the opposite direction. A study led by the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine found that heavy drinking among adults aged 50 to 64 jumped by more than 36% between 2018 and 2024, even as overall alcohol use and heavy drinking declined across the wider population.
The research, published Sept. 21 in Annals of Internal Medicine, analyzed self-reported data from the National Health Interview Survey, covering 114,352 U.S. adults from 2018 to 2024. Across all age groups, alcohol use fell by nearly 2% and heavy drinking dropped by more than 8% from 2022 to 2024. Still, overall consumption remains above pre-pandemic levels, suggesting the recent decline is a partial correction rather than a full return to earlier norms.
Younger adults drove much of the drop. Alcohol use among Gen Z adults declined by more than 5%, and millennials drank approximately 17% less from 2022 to 2024. The study did not examine why younger people are cutting back, but the pattern contrasts sharply with the rise in heavy drinking among middle-aged and older adults.
Men showed a larger overall decline in alcohol use than women, 2.4% versus 1.1%. However, women reduced heavy drinking more than men, 9% compared with 7.7%. Despite that recent improvement, women's heavy drinking remains about 13% above its 2018 level, a figure that carries particular weight because women develop liver damage at lower levels of drinking than men.
«Women's heavy drinking rose more than men's during the pandemic and is still about 13% above where it was in 2018,» said lead study author Dr. Brian P. Lee, an associate professor of medicine at the Keck School of Medicine. «Women develop liver damage at lower levels of drinking than men, so that number carries more weight than it looks.»
The study was funded in part by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institutes of Health. Its chief limitation is that participants reported their own drinking habits, which tend to be understated. Lee also noted that the research cannot explain why drinking changed, only that it did, and he described the two-year decline as a promising turn rather than an established trend.
Experts outside the study point to a mix of social and personal factors that may be pushing older adults to drink more heavily. Dr. Chris Tuell, clinical director of addiction services at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, said people in their 50s and 60s often face major life transitions, including retirement, the loss of longtime structure, grief, chronic pain, and the loneliness epidemic. «One out of four people will experience some mental health issue … depression, anxiety, loss, grief — these are real things that are impacting people,» Tuell said. «And it's at a time where a person might feel very vulnerable.»
As people age, they also metabolize alcohol differently, so the same amount that once felt manageable can have a stronger effect. Women may be especially vulnerable because they tend to have less body water and more body fat, which can raise blood alcohol concentrations. Lee added that while alcohol does not harm everyone equally, the risk begins at low levels and rises with every additional drink. «There isn't a level the evidence shows to be safe,» he said.
For anyone concerned about their drinking, Tuell recommends the «three Cs» — craving, loss of control, and continued use despite consequences. He noted that alcohol can be problematic even without addiction, for example when it disrupts sleep, relationships, or daily functioning. In a normal night, people cycle through sleep stages four to five times, but drinking can cut that to two or three. Tuell said it is never too late to seek help, pointing to patients in their 80s who still had «a lot of life left.»
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