Wealthy, educated Americans are the most likely to drink alcohol, a recent Gallup poll found.
Overall, 64% of surveyed Americans answered "Yes, drink" to the question: "Do you have occasion to use alcoholic beverages ... or are you a total abstainer?"
Among those answering yes, about half said that during the past week, they'd consumed one to seven drinks; 35% had abstained in that time; and 14% had consumed eight or more alcoholic beverages.
The groups that were likelier to be drinkers than others are illustrated by the Statista chart below, which is based on the data from Gallup:
While nearly half of upper-income drinkers say they've had beer, wine, or liquor within the past 24 hours, only 18% of lower-income drinkers say the same.
"Americans of higher socio-economic status certainly have greater economic resources, and can likely afford to buy alcohol when they want to drink," Gallup notes. "They also are more likely to participate in activities that may involve drinking such as dining out at restaurants [and] going on vacation."
While education and income are the strongest predictors of drinking habits, people who don't attend church are also more likely to drink than those who do, and men are more likely to drink than women. There's also an interesting breakdown by age: 71% of 30-to-49-year-olds drink, making that the booziest age group.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "moderate" drinking is defined as up to two drinks a day for men and up to one drink a day for women.
