More than a quarter of Brits have lied about how much they drink

31-Jan-2019 - Last updated on 31-Jan-2019 at 12:41 GMT

Drink deception: research has revealed that more than a quarter of Brits have downplayed their alcohol consumption

According to a survey by YouGov, 27% of Brits have lied about their alcohol consumption, with GPs, health professionals and parents most likely to have been deceived.

A YouGov Omnibus survey produced for Yahoo News podcast Britain is a Nation of… recently asked Brits to reveal how often they lie about their alcohol consumption and to whom.

According to findings, more than a quarter of respondents (27%) confessed to having told someone they drink less alcohol than they actually do, while 58% of those asked claimed that they haven’t.

The survey also found that men are slightly more likely to have lied about their drinking, with 29% of male respondents coming clean in YouGov’s survey compared to 24% of women.

Furthermore, 62% of over-55s claim they’ve never lied about how much they drink compared to 51% of 18 to 24-year-olds.

Who do we lie to?

YouGov also asked respondents who they’ve lied to about their alcohol consumption, and how many times.

Among those who have lied, two thirds (59%) pulled the wool over a doctor or health professional’s eyes with approximately one in six (14%) doing so on five or more occasions.

Close to half of respondents (43%) have lied about their drinking to their parents at least once, with one in five (21%) having done so on five or more times.

The survey revealed that 18 to 24-year-olds are most likely to have lied to their parents about their drinking, with almost 60% claiming to have done so.

However, young people were also found to be on the receiving end of parental fibs, with a quarter (25%) of YouGov respondents revealing that they have told their children that they drink less than they actually do.

In terms of discussing drinking at work, a third of Brits (32%) claim to have lied to their colleagues, while one in four (25%) have downplayed their drinking to a line manager.

Friends, family and fibbing

According to YouGov, women are almost twice as likely as men to admit they have lied to friends or partners as a one-off, with 10% of men versus 17% of women having fibbed to friends and 9% of men v 14% of women having lied to a partner.

However, men are almost twice as likely as women to say they have lied five times or more to both their friends and partners. Findings revealed that 15% of men admitted to having fibbed to their friends about drinking on five or more occasions, compared to 9% of women, while 18% of men admitted to multiple lies to a partner compared to 8% of women.