Per capita alcohol consumption
Measure Overview
Research is increasingly showing that consumption of alcohol, even in moderate amounts, can be harmful to health. Measuring per capita alcohol consumption is able to capture all alcohol consumption, not just capturing those heavy and/or binge drinking (for a measure that captures only heavy and/or binge drinking, see Excessive Alcohol Consumption).
This measures is defined as: The average number of drinks consumed annually per person age 14 and older. Gallons of sold or shipped alcoholic beverages are converted to number of drinks by dividing by the beverage type’s size of “standard drink” (the serving size that contains roughly 14 grams or 0.6 fl.oz. of pure alcohol: 12 fl.oz. of beer, 5 fl.oz. of wine, or 1.5 fl.oz. of distilled spirits). Total consumption estimates are converted to per capita consumption estimates by dividing by Census Bureau estimates of the total population age 14 and older.
State Health Compare provides state-level data on "Per Capita Alcohol Consumption" based on findings from the NIH National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System (AEDS). The data are available across the following breakdowns: Beverage type.