America's Alcohol Decline: Gen Z Leads the First Drop Since Covid

Nearly seven years after the pandemic pushed American alcohol consumption upward, the trend has finally turned. A study published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that both overall and heavy drinking among US adults fell between 2022 and 2024, the first alcohol decline since Covid-19 began.

The drop is small, and the researchers behind it are careful not to overstate it. Drinking rates are still higher than they were in 2018, before the pandemic surge began. But the direction matters: after years of moving only one way, the numbers are now falling.

The study, led by Dr. Brian P. Lee, a hepatologist and liver transplant specialist at Keck Medicine of USC in Los Angeles, drew on cross-sectional data from more than 114,000 respondents to the National Health Interview Survey, which is administered by the US Census Bureau, covering the years 2018 through 2024.

Younger adults are cutting back the most

The share of adults who reported drinking any alcohol in the past year fell by nearly 2% from 2022 to 2024, while the share who drank heavily dropped by more than 8%, according to the study.

The steepest changes came from younger adults. Gen Z adults, ages 18 to 29, showed the largest decline in any alcohol use at just over 5%. Among millennials, ages 30 to 49, heavy drinking fell 17% over the same two-year period.

That shift matches what Lee has seen in his own clinic. During the pandemic years, his waiting rooms filled with patients suffering liver-related disease, including people in their 20s needing liver transplants, something he had not encountered before 2020.

Lee said the new numbers gave him reason for hope, while cautioning that a single two-year decline does not prove a lasting trend.

One generation is drinking more, not less

The same data tells a very different story for adults between 50 and 64, roughly Generation X and the youngest baby boomers. In that group, heavy drinking rose more than 36% and any drinking increased 4% between 2018 and 2024.

This is the age group that worries doctors the most. The average age at which alcohol-related cirrhosis is diagnosed is in the 50s, and the liver becomes more sensitive to alcohol as people age. Adults 50 to 64 are also more than two and a half times as likely to die from chronic alcohol abuse as from acute alcohol-related causes, according to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics.

Dr. Jagpreet Chhatwal, director of the Institute for Technology Assessment at Massachusetts General Hospital, who was not involved in the study, called the findings encouraging as a change in direction, while noting that drinking rates were already high before the pandemic.

Why younger adults are drinking less

The study did not investigate the reasons behind the alcohol decline, but Lee pointed to a few likely forces. The sober-curious movement has made skipping alcohol socially normal in a way it was not a decade ago, and awareness of alcohol's health harms has grown.

Both researchers also raised the possibility that some younger adults are replacing alcohol with other substances, including cannabis. Lee noted that drinking tends to follow peer groups: when a few friends cut back, the rest often follow, and the habit spreads.

Many people may not realize how the study defines heavy drinking. Per the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, it means four or more drinks a day, or eight or more a week, for women, and five or more a day, or 15 or more a week, for men.

What comes next

The open question is whether the downturn holds. Past alcohol data has shown how a promising decline can stall, and both researchers stress that sustained change will need more than a single data point.

For anyone concerned about their own drinking, Lee recommends asking a doctor about liver screening tests. Behavioral programs can help people cut back, Chhatwal said, but staying consistent with them remains the hardest part for most.

The full study appears in the Annals of Internal Medicine, and CNN reported on the findings on September 21, 2026: Alcohol use has declined for the first time since Covid-19.