For the previous a number of years, headlines declaring that Gen Z isn’t ingesting alcohol have dominated the information cycle. However in line with new shopper analysis performed by the IWSR, Gen Z is definitely consuming simply as a lot as older generations, and the general decline in alcohol consumption is a much more nuanced image.
As recognized by Bevtrac shopper analysis achieved by the IWSR in March 2025, the decline in total alcohol consumption could be attributed to a few elements: disposable incomes are beneath strain, shoppers are prioritizing important gadgets over alcohol, and the dwindling of on-premise consumption. However, most notably, Gen Z is definitely revving up their alcohol consumption whereas concurrently rising their variety of consumption events.
“Alcohol utilization amongst LDA+ Gen Z adults has elevated considerably from April 2023 lows,” IWSR COO of shopper insights Richard Halstead remarked in the report. “There may be proof that the propensity to exit and spend extra is recovering amongst this group — difficult the obtained knowledge that this technology is ‘abandoning’ alcohol.”
In a Bevtrac examine performed in April 2023, 66 % of Gen Z shoppers on this planet’s high 15 markets reported consuming alcohol within the earlier six months. When that examine was performed once more in March 2025, that determine jumped to 73 %. In america alone, Gen Z consumption catapulted from 46 % reported in 2023 to a whopping 70 % in March 2025.
Throughout the pond in the UK, alcohol consumption amongst Zoomers rose from 66 % to 76 % in the identical time interval, whereas India skilled a ten % rise from 60 to 70 %. Gen Zers in Australia are additionally ingesting extra, with consumption within the technology up from 61 % to 83 %. The rationale for this revival, as argued by the info analytics firm, is because of youthful shoppers’ willingness to discover a variety of drinks classes, buying of a broad vary of alcoholic merchandise, and readiness to go to the on-premise often.
However whereas Gen Z consumption may be up, total alcohol consumption remains to be down from beforehand reported knowledge. It simply can’t all be blamed on Gen Z. Because the IWSR factors out, the second Trump administration has introduced political instability to North America because the president enacts — after which backs away from — rash international commerce and financial insurance policies.
“The present macroeconomic local weather is posing a problem for beverage alcohol, with shopper sentiment impartial to unfavourable, and spend much more subdued. The U.S. and China are seeing among the greatest falls, and sentiment has weakened throughout Asia-Pacific, with different markets sustaining the identical ranges as a yr in the past,” Halstead explains. “India stays the one market with all three indicators — shopper sentiment, recalled quantity and recalled spend — in constructive territory, as upper-middle-class shoppers proceed to drink and spend extra.”
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