This surveillance report on 1977–2009 apparent per capita alcohol consumption in the United States is the 25th in a series of consumption reports produced annually by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Findings are based on alcoholic beverage sales data, either collected directly by the Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System (AEDS) from the States or provided by beverage industry sources. Population data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau are used as denominators to calculate per capita rates.
The following are highlights from the current report, which updates consumption trends through 2009:
In the United States, per capita consumption of ethanol from all alcoholic beverages combined in 2009 was 2.30 gallons, representing a 0.9 percent decrease from 2.32 gallons in 2008.
Between 2008 and 2009, changes in overall per capita consumption of ethanol included increases in 9 States, decreases in 34 States and the District of Columbia,and no change in 7 States.
Analysis of overall per capita alcohol consumption by census region between 2008 and 2009 indicated decreases of 0.4% in the Midwest, 0.9% in the South, and 1.2% in the West, with no change in the Northeast.
Healthy People 2010 has set the national objective for reducing per capita alcohol consumption to no more than 1.96 gallons of ethanol. However, the prospect of reaching the Year 2010 national objective does not appear promising. From 1999 to 2008, there was a trend of increasing per capita consumption. 2009 is the first year in a decade in which a decrease in per capita consumption has been observed. To meet the 2010 objective, per capita alcohol consumption will need to decrease by 14.8 percent within one year.
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