Question: How Many Heavy Drinkers in the U.S.?
Answer: The latest available data places the number of people who self-report being heavy drinkers at 6.8 of the population in the United States, or an estimated 17.1 million people. Heavy drinking is defined as binge drinking on at least 5 days in the past 30 days.
This information is from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an annual interview of approximately 67,500 people, asking about their alcohol and drug use in the past year.
Is your drinking level safe, risky or harmful. Find out by taking the Alcohol Screening Quiz.
Do you have withdrawal symptoms when you try to stop drinking? Are your symptoms mild, moderate or severe? Take the Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms Quiz.
Return to the Alcohol Consumption FAQs.
