I am aware that saying that “being abstemious is fashionable” is going far. And not only because alcohol is still the most consumed drug in the world, nor because 76.5% of people between 15 and 64 recognize having consumed it in the last 12 months. Is to go very far by The tapid culture of alcohol that are in contemporary societies.
However, there is room for optimism: 53% of young people (between 18 and 30 years old) They say they have reduced alcohol consumption. AND, According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Foodconsumption in general is in a fall layer.
A global phenomenon … In fact, According to the International Wine and Spirits Recordthe purchase of alcohol has fallen by 20% since 2000; While the 0.0 drink market has almost been bent since 2022. In fact, we are seeing how 0.0 exceeds the world of beers: “There is no lack of wine warehouses and distilled brands invest in their discouragement segment.”
According to your latest IWSR reportin the 10 key markets (among which is Spain) it is estimated “an annual growth of 4% of this line until 2028”. If they are right, the market for without alcohol will have grown 3.9 billion euros.
… that is no accident. As our partner Andrés Mohorte said“makes sense that arrogant curious They emerge now and not fifteen years ago. The generation Millennial has given The back to alcohol (at least in Anglo -Saxon countries, in Spain is Another story): Today’s young people consume 30% less alcoholic beverages than thirty years ago, and today 20% of young Americans They are already abstemious “.
In addition, alcohol damage begins to make visible. He Scientific consensus It is very solid: alcohol consumption, even in small sporadic doses, has negative effects on our health both in the short and long term. The problem is that public and published opinion has not systematically forgotten (With the help of the industry).
This is still like that. How many people are aware that in 2021 13,887 people died due to related causes With alcohol consumption? This is due to the characteristics of the drug (“the amount of alcohol consumed between the ages of 12 and 25 has a direct relationship with more than 14 cancers detected from 50,” He said in the country Gabriel RubioChief of Psychiatry of the University Hospital 12 October), but also to social, economic and cultural dynamics.
But luckily It is something that is also starting to change (And, in fact, the growth of beer consumption has a lot to do with this).
But we should not take deception. The culture of alcohol is very rocky. Maybe alcohol be less present in our day to daybut it is in our lives. In general, the percentage of population that has consumed alcohol throughout the last month has barely varied.
And, in fact, the Binge Drinkingwhich consists of the consumption of five or four drinks or more in a period of the course of two hours, has gained ground: if in 2003 its percentage in the adult population It was 5.3%in 2017 it had raised to 15.1%, data that has remained with slight variations since then.
It is true, alcohol consumption seems to descend, but discreetly. And it is good to be aware of it.
Image | Ash Edmonds