ALCOHOL FACTS & FIGURES

How many Americans engaged in farming in 1920 (the year Prohibition went in effect)?  And how many today?  
    - 1920:  27%
    - 2000:  less than 2%.  Most Americans now live in and around cities. 
(Source: US Department of Agriculture, US Census)

How many “License States” are there today (those that have the three-tier system of producer-wholesaler-retailer for alcohol distribution)?
    - 32 states plus the District of Columbia

How many “Control States” are there (those that require the state itself to serve as alcohol retailer)?
    - 18 states plus Montgomery County, Maryland


What was the Supreme Court case that overturned discriminatory interstate wine shipment bans?
    - Granholm v. Heald (decided May 16, 2005) 

The largest Christian churches in the United States today are:
    - Roman Catholic (69 million people -- more than one-in-five Americans)
    - Southern Baptist Convention (16.3 million)
    - United Methodist Church (8.2 million)
(Source: Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, 2006)


What are the two busiest shopping days of the week?  
    - Saturday
    - Closely followed by Sunday. 
This is because the two-income family only has time to shop on weekends.  This social change has undermined the old Blue Laws (Sunday closing laws). 


The percentage of American adults (18 and older) who drink alcohol today:
    - 64%
(Source: Gallup Inc. Gallup has run this annual survey almost every year since 1939, and the results have been consistent throughout. The 2009 survey confirmed that 64% drink.)


Percentage of Americans who abuse alcohol or are alcoholics:
    - 4.65% abuse alcohol
    - 3.81% are alcoholics
    - Together, this is about one-in-eight people who drink alcohol
(Source: National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, 2001-2002)


The average age that American youth take their first drink of alcohol:
    - between 12 and 13
(Source: Monitoring the Future Study, 2005)


Where do most underage drinkers get their alcohol?  
    - 65% of youth get their alcohol at home 
(Source: Century Council, American Medical Association)

What is the legal age of adulthood in the US?  
    - 18 years


When did the United States shift the drinking age to 21? 
    - 1984
Trick question: states control the drinking age.  But pressured by Mothers Against Drunk Driving lobbying, Congress used the power of withholding federal highway funds to coerce them to raise the drinking age from 18.

Drinking ages by country:  
    - Most of Western Europe: 16  (the UK and Ireland are 18)  
    - Canada:  18
    - Mexico:  19
    - United States: 21. The US has the highest drinking age of any country in the world where alcohol is a legal product.

What are the peak years of binge drinking in the US (defined as 5 or more drinks at one sitting per male, or 4 or more drinks per female)?
    - 21 to 25
(Source: National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2006)

You can download this to .PDF