Most people who drink excessively aren't alcoholics

Most people who drink excessively aren't alcoholics
(Image credit: iStock)

A survey of 138,100 adults in the United States found that nine out of 10 people who drink too much are not alcoholics, and could imbibe less with some prodding.

Excessive drinking for men is having five or more drinks on one occasion or 15 drinks or more in a week; for women, it's four drinks in one sitting or eight drinks or more in a week. Although roughly 29 percent of the population does drink excessively, 90 percent do not fit the definition of an alcoholic.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.