Alcohol Statistics

By Jerry Price - Mar 1, 2006 -

“Alcohol consumption increases the likelihood that persons will be injured while engaging in a variety of activities of daily living, including driving a motor vehicle, walking, swimming, and boating. Nearly 40 of traffic deaths in the United States involve alcohol and at least 300,000 persons are injured annually in police-reported alcohol-related traffic crashes. Thirty-one of persons who died as a result of a nontraffic unintentional injury in 331 medical examiner studies in the United States from 1975 to 1995 had blood alcohol levels of 0.10 or higher.”

“Age of Drinking Onset and Unintentional Injury Involvement After Drinking,” Journal of the American Medical Association, September 27, 2000

The following statistics give a glimpse of the magnitude of problem drinking:

  • Approximately 14 million Americans—7.4 percent of the population—meet the diagnostic criteria for alcohol abuse or alcoholism.
  • More than one-half of American adults have a close family member who has or has had alcoholism.
  • Approximately one in four children younger than 18 years old in the United States is exposed to alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence in the family.
  • Of 11.1 million victims of violent crime each year, almost one in four, or 2.7 million, report that the offender had been drinking alcohol prior to committing the crime.
  • Traffic crashes involving alcohol killed more than 16,000 people in 1997 alone.
  • The estimated economic cost of alcohol abuse was $184.6 billion for 1998 alone, or roughly $638 for every man, woman, and child living in the United States that year.

Adapted from “Drinking Over the Life Span: Issues of Biology, Behavior, and Risk,” Tenth Special Report to the U.S. Congress on Alcohol and Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2000

  • An estimated 119 million Americans aged 12 or older were current drinkers of alcohol in 2003 (50.1 percent). About 54 million (22.6 percent) participated in binge drinking at least once in the 30 days prior to the survey, and 16.1 million (6.8 percent) were heavy drinkers. These 2003 numbers are all similar to the corresponding estimates for 2002.
  • The highest prevalence of binge and heavy drinking in 2003 was for young adults aged 18 to 25, with the peak rate of both measures occurring at age 21. The rate of binge drinking was 41.6 percent for young adults aged 18 to 25 and 47.8 percent at age 21. Heavy alcohol use was reported by 15.1 percent of persons aged 18 to 25 and by 18.7 percent of persons aged 21.
  • About 10.9 million persons aged 12 to 20 reported drinking alcohol in the month prior to the survey interview in 2003 (29.0 percent of this age group). Nearly 7.2 million (19.2 percent) were binge drinkers and 2.3 million (6.1 percent) were heavy drinkers. These 2003 rates were essentially the same as those obtained from the 2002 survey.
  • An estimated 13.6 percent of persons aged 12 or older drove under the influence of alcohol at least once in the 12 months prior to the interview in 2003 (a decrease from 14.2 percent in 2002). These ages represent 32.3 million persons in 2003 and 33.5 million persons in 2002.

Highlights of Findings Alcohol Use 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health

Further Learning

Learn more about: Family, Addictions, Substance Abuse