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Statistics

Alcohol Facts You Should Know

Really, how bad is this underage drinking? It isn't really a problem in my community, is it? Facts are facts, and these facts aren't pretty.

  • Alcohol is the most frequently used drug among American youth. Approximately 77% of all high school seniors have had an alcoholic drink. (NASDUH 2004) 1
  • In 2003, 94% of all high school seniors report that it is "very easy" or "fairly easy" to get alcohol. (NASDUH 2004) 1
  • In 2002, over 6000 people died due to underage drinking related causes (car crashes, homicides, suicides, fires and drowning, etc) 2
  • In 2004, 24% of all fatal car crashes among 15-20 year olds were alcohol related. (NHTSA 2004) 3
  • Car crashes are the leading cause of death for people ages 15-20 years old. (NHTSA 2004) 3
  • In a 2004 survey, 10.8 million people under the age of 21 had consumed alcohol in the past 30 days. (NASDUH 2004) 1
  • People who begin drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence than those who wait until age 21. Each additional year of delayed drinking onset reduces the probability of alcohol dependence by 14 percent. (Grant 1998) 4
  • In 2003, alcohol companies spent 5.37 billion dollars on alcohol advertising. (CAMY 2005) 5
  • From 2001-2003, youth were 96 times more likely to see an ad promoting alcohol than an ad promoting responsible drinking. (CAMY 2005) 5
  • Underage drinking costs our society 61.9 billion dollars a year in medical costs, lost days of work, pain and suffering. etc. (Levy, Miller, et al. 2003) 6
  • Approximately 900 lives are saved each year because of the 21 minimum drinking age law. (NHTSA 2004) 3
  • Adolescents are more vulnerable than adults to the effects of alcohol on learning and memory. (White 2001) 7

One teen death due to underage drinking is one too many. Don't become a statistic. Do something to change these numbers. You have the knowledge. You have the voice. You have the tools. You have the power.

1. Johnston, L. D., O'Malley, P. M., Bachman, J. G., & Schulenberg, J. E. (2005). Monitoring the Future national survey results on drug use, 1975-2004. Volume I: Secondary school students (NIH Publication No. 05-5727). Bethesda , MD : National Institute on Drug Abuse, 680 pp .

2. Hingson R and Kenkel D. Social, Health and Economic Consequences of Underage Drinking. Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility . National Research Council and Institute of Medicine ; 2004 351-382.

3. Traffic Safety Facts 2004: A Compilation of Motor Vehicle Crash Data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and the General Estimates System , the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration . National Center for Statistical and Analysis. United States Department of Transportation.

4. Grant, Bridget, "The Impact of a Family History of Alcoholism on the Relationship Between Age at Onset of Alcohol Use and DSM-IV Alcohol Dependence: Results from the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey." Alcohol Health and Research World , no. 22, 1998.

5. Alcohol Marketing and Youth Fact Sheet. Center on Alcohol Marketing for Youth. July 2005. http://camy.org/factsheets/index.php?FactsheetID=1

6. Levy, D.T., Miller, T.R., & Cox, K.C. (2003). Underage drinking: societal costs and seller profits. Working Paper. Calverton , MD : PIRE.

7. White, Aaron M. "Substance Use and Adolescent Brain Development: An Overview of Recent Findings with a Focus on Alcohol." Durham , NC : Duke University Medical Center , 2004. http://www.duke.edu/~amwhite/Adolescence/Adolescent%20webpage%20paper%200504.pdf

Information courtesy of youthinaction.org