US: Study puts underage drinking at 20% of market

A study by Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse has suggested that underage drinkers account for 19.7% of alcohol consumption in the US. However, the findings are likely to be treated sceptically in many quarters as the Center released inaccurate findings from the same study last year.

February 26, 2003

A study by Columbia University’s National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse has suggested that underage drinkers account for 19.7% of alcohol consumption in the US. However, the findings are likely to be treated sceptically in many quarters as the Center released inaccurate findings from the same study last year.

The study examined three sets of data from 1999. Previously, it put underage consumption at 25%, a figure which was discredited. It has now stated that the study indicates that underage consumption of alcohol accounts for 19.7% of total consumption, or US$22.5 billion.

The Center’s research, just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, also found that consumption by adults who drank more than two drinks a day, which was the study’s benchmark for excessive drinking, accounted for 30.4% of the market, or US$34.4 billion

The findings on underage drinking have already been questioned by industry representatives as has been the Center’s definition of excessive drinkers.