News
Young teetotallers
on the rise
Young people are behind the lower levels of drinking among
Britons today compared with a decade ago, according to Office for National
Statistics (ONS).
The Adult Drinking Habits in Great
Britain survey shows that more than a fifth (21%) of adults reported
abstaining from alcohol in 2013.
Young adults are primarily responsible for this, as the proportion of
teetotallers aged 16 to 24 increased by more than 40% since 2005. This means
young adults are now just as likely to be teetotallers as those aged 65 and
over (27%).
Young adults are
also mainly responsible for fall in binge drinking since 2005; the proportion that
had binged decreased by more than a third, from 29% to 18% in 2013. However, those
who did drink remained the most likely group to have binged. By contrast, the proportion of older people (45
years old and older) who drank above the recommended guidelines continues to
increase.
Almost a third of
adults in London (32%) said that they do not drink alcohol, considerably more
than anywhere else in Great Britain. By contrast, adults in the north of
England and in Scotland who drank in the last week were more likely to have
binged than other Britons (36%).
Dataset: ‘Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, Adult
Drinking Habits in Great Britain, 2013’, Office for National Statistics. Infographic also
available: ‘5
facts about binge-drinking and teetotalism’.