People are continuing to drink less alcohol, new Government statistics reveal

In the General Lifestyle Survey 2011, which was conducted via 15,000 interviews of adults aged 16 and older, it found that the proportion of men who reported drinking alcohol in the seven days before interview fell from 72% in 2005 to 66% in 2011. Similarly, the proportion of women who reported drinking alcohol in the seven days before interview fell from 57% to 54 % over the same period.

In addition, the proportion of men who reported drinking alcohol on at least five days in the week before interview fell from 22% in 2005 to 16% in 2011.  While the proportion of women reporting drinking alcohol on at least five days in the week before interview fell from 13% to 9% over the same period.

When asked about their heaviest drinking day before the interview there was also a downward trend in the proportions of men exceeding four units (41% in 2005 and 34% in 2011) and women exceeding three units (34% in 2005 and 28% in 2011).

There was also a decrease in the levels of heavy drinking which is defined as exceeding twice the Government daily benchmarks on a single day - this means more than eight units of alcohol on that day for men and consuming more than six units on that day for women. The proportion of men drinking more than eight units fell from 23% in 2005 to 18% in 2011 while the proportion of women drinking heavily were 15% in 2005 and 12% in 2011.

The age group with the highest proportion of people not drinking at all in the last week was the 16 to 24 group (50%). The proportion of adults who drank every day increased with each age group; just 1% of the 16 to 24 age group had drunk every day during the previous week. This increased to 4% in the 25 to 44 group and then to 9% in the 45 to 64 age group and 13% in the 65 and over age group.

The Wine and Spirit Trade Association  welcomed the news calling for the Government to scrap its plans for a minimum unit price.

WSTA chief executive, Miles Beale said: “This latest report from the ONS shows that significant progress is being made in tackling binge and harmful drinking in the UK. It follows reports earlier this week that overall alcohol consumption in the UK is on a sustained downward trend – down 16% since 2004.

“Given the significant progress that is being made, it is now time for the Government to drop its plans to introduce a minimum unit price for alcohol.  Minimum unit pricing is unfair, likely to be illegal and will penalise the responsible majority, whilst doing nothing to tackle the root causes of alcohol misuse.”

However, Elaine Hindal, chief executive of alcohol education charity Drinkaware, said: “On the surface, today’s figures seem to suggest we’re all drinking less, but if you take a closer look, there’s still cause for concern. Of regular drinkers(1), more than half(2) report drinking over the guidelines(3) and a quarter are drinking to binge drinking levels(4).

“People should be encouraged to understand the size and strength of their drinks to help them keep track. Drinkaware.co.uk helps people to see how many units are in their drink, track their drinking, check if their drinking may be affecting their health and gives simple tips to cut down.”

Other stats:​

• 59% of adults reported that they had consumed alcohol in the seven days prior to interview.
• Men were more likely than women to have had an alcoholic drink in the week before interview: 66% of men and 54 % of women had had a drink on at least one day during the previous week.
• Men also drank on more days of the week than women: 16% of men and 9% of women had drunk on at least five of the preceding seven days.
• Men were much more likely than women to have drunk alcohol every day during the previous week (9% compared with 5%).