The French, and young people, drink less and less alcohol

This is a trend that is true: we continue to drink alcohol less regularly in France. But more in a festive context.

Alcohol: consumption down 13%

We call this Nordic consumption: more in an evening and party context, less on a daily basis, as opposed to what we call Mediterranean consumption, regular and constant. The French Observatory on Drugs and Addictive Trends has just published its report on French alcohol consumption in 2023. And, once again, this is on the decline.

Should we see the influence of inflation and a drastically reduced household budget, whether for the useful or the superfluous? Not only that: in general, we drink less alcohol in France, and less regularly, particularly among young people. Thus, over the last three years, daily alcohol consumption has reduced by 13% among 18-75 year olds. Now only 7% of adults report drinking every day. But when, in 2023, 10.4% of men said they consumed alcohol daily, this was the case for only 3.8% of women.

What consumption among adolescents?

On the other hand, a surprising figure as the UN recently highlighted an increase in alcohol (and nicotine) consumption. among young people in Europe. According to her, 57% of 15-year-olds say they have already tried alcohol and 37% have consumed it in the last month. Around one in ten young people, across all age groups, had even experienced significant intoxication, including at least twice in their life.

However, according to the latest report from the French Observatory on Drugs and Addictive Tendencies, nearly one in five adolescents (19.4%) say they have never consumed alcohol in their life, i.e. three times more than twenty years ago. Likewise, the phenomenon of ‘Binge drinking’ or API (several heavy drinking, at least 5 drinks on the same occasion) is reported to be down 17% among adolescents.

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