Dry January is the growing trend of taking the challenge of completely abstaining from alcohol for the month of January. Dry January began as an ad campaign from the British charity Alcohol Change UK in 2014 but has grown into a global phenomenon in recent years. This increased interest in the challenge has coincided with a general
. The average American drinks more now than the average consumption over the last 30 years.
Participation
The growing trend of Dry January participation can be mostly attributed to younger generations. Alcohol consumers who were between 18 and 29 years of age were more than twice as likely as those 65 and older to say they
intended to participate in Dry January in 2025. There is a clear trend in participation by age. This interest may be partially explained by the growing awareness of the harmful health effects of alcohol at even small doses. The youngest age group of another survey, those between 18 and 24 year-old, were asked about their
concern over the health effects of alcohol. This age group had both the lowest rate of answering that they were not at all concerned about the health effects as well, as the highest rate of answering that they were very concerned. The
prevalence of alcohol use among high schoolers in the United States has also been trending downward for years.
Alcohol replacement
Interest in non-alcoholic drinks also seems to be connected to interest in Dry January and concern about alcohol's health effects. Eighty-three percent of those who thought they were
at least somewhat likely to try Dry January said they were very interested in non-alcoholic drinks, compared to just 17 percent of respondents who had ruled out Dry January for 2025. Similarly, alcohol consumers who were not planning on drinking less for health reasons were much more likely to say they
had not had and were not interested in having non-alcoholic beer than those consumers who were planning on cutting back.
Non-alcoholic drinks of all segments have witnessed impressive growth recently but RTD beverages and spirits, in particular, with innovative flavors and the popularity "mocktails" have done the best.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no
liability for the information given being complete or correct.
Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date
data than referenced in the text.
