Alcohol Gains Popularity in the USA
The percentage of drinkers who named wine as their drink of choice has increased steadily ... but beer was the winner in the 2006 Gallup poll with 41% of Americans naming it their drink of choice.
Although the number of Americans who drink alcohol is holding steady, the poll shows those who drink are imbibing more frequently and drinking more drinks each week compared with a decade ago.
Beer is back as their alcoholic beverage of choice, which is a return to the pattern seen before last year’s poll when beer and wine tied for the top drink.
American Drinking Habits
The poll, showed that 64% of Americans (18y up) say they drink alcoholic beverages.
The poll shows that the frequency of drinking has risen over the last 10 years. 71% of American drinkers said they had an alcoholic drink in the last week, which is significantly higher than the 54% who said the same in 1996.
They are alsodrinking more, with an average of 4.5 drinks per week, compared with 2.8 in 1996.
The percentage of wine drinkers increased steadily from 27% in 1992 to a peak of 39% last year, when it narrowly topped beer in popularity. But beer was back on top with 41% of Americans naming it their favorite drink compared with 33% opting for wine and 23% choosing liquor.
Who’s Drinking and Who’s Not
Drinking is less common among lower-income households; 82% of Americans who live in upper-income households (annual incomes of $75,000 or more) say they drink compared with 44% of those with incomes less than $30,000.
Senior citizens (over age 65) were less likely to drink than Americans in other age groups.
48% of weekly churchgoers say they drink alcohol compared with 69% of those who attend religious services less frequently and 72% of those who seldom or never attend.
Sources: Gallup Organization
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this is one major cultural gap between the US and Europe.
Europeans don't see beer or wine as alcohol. Liquor defilitely is.
eg: Legaly you are allowed to drink beer in Germany with 16.
