Statistics
Approximately 18 million Americans—8.5 percent of the population—meet the diagnostic criteria for alcohol abuse or alcoholism.
[ref.]
[References]Grant, Bridgett, et al. "The 12-Month Prevalence and Trends in DSM-IV Alcohol Abuse and Dependence: United States, 1991–1992 and 2001–2002." Drug and Alcohol Dependence 74 (3): (2003) 223-234.
In 2006, an estimated 17,602 people died in alcohol-related traffic crashes—an average of one every 30 minutes. These deaths constitute 41 percent of the 42,642 total traffic fatalities. Of these, an estimated 13,470 involved a driver with an illegal BAC (.08 or greater). On average someone is killed by a drunk driver every 39 minutes.
[ref.]
[References]National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “2006 Traffic Safety Annual Assessment – A Preview.” DOT 810 791. Washington DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, July 2007. http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/810791.PDF
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “Traffic Safety Facts 2006: Alcohol Impaired Driving.” DOT 810 801. Washington DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2008. http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/810801.PDF
Eighteen percent of US college students reported suffering from clinical significant alcohol-related problems in the past year, compared with 15 percent of their non-college-attending peers. College students were also more likely to be diagnosed as alcohol abusers than their non-college-attending peers.
[ref.]
Approximately 6 percent of college students have been diagnosed as alcohol dependent and nearly one-third of students would be given an alcohol abuse diagnosis under psychiatric criteria. Approximately 44 percent of students reported at least one symptom of either abuse or dependence.
[ref.]
More than 40 percent of individuals who start drinking before the age of 13 will develop alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence at some point in their lives.
[ref.]
[References]Grant, Bridgett and Deborah Dawson. “Age at Onset of Alcohol Use and Its Association with DSM-IV Alcohol Abuse and Dependence.” Results from the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey. Journal of Substance Abuse 9 (1997): 103-110.
People reporting first use of alcohol before age 15 were more than five times more likely to have past year alcohol dependence or abuse compared with people who first used alcohol at age 21 or older.
[ref.]
In 2002, 86.4% of the Americans 18 and older who reported driving after they had had too much to drink also reported binge drinking. Binge drinkers were over 13 times more likely to report alcohol-impaired driving than those to drank, but did not report binge drinking.
[ref.]
[References]Quinlan, Kyran P., et al. “Alcohol-Impaired Driving Among US Adults, 1993-2002.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine 28 (4) (2005): 346-350.
Surveys estimate the highest prevalence of both binge and heavy drinking in 2006 was for young adults aged 21 to 23, with the peak rate occurring at age 21. The rate of binge drinking was 36.2 percent among those aged 18 to 20, 20 percent among those ages 16 and 17, and 49.3 percent at age 21.
[ref.]
[References]Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. “Findings from the 2006 National Household Survey on Drug Use,” Washington, DC: Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Applied Studies, 2007. http://oas.samhsa.gov/nsduh/2k6nsduh/2k6Results.cfm#Ch3
In 2007, the U.S. Surgeon General estimates that approximately 5,000 persons under age 21 die from alcohol-related injuries involving underage drinking each year.
[ref.]
[References]U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General, The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2007). http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/underagedrinking/calltoaction.pdf
Binge drinkers (those who have five or more drinks on any occasion) compromise only approximately 20 percent of the US population, but drink approximately 83 percent of the alcohol. Frequent bingers (those who have five or more drinks at a time five or more times in the past month) are only approximately six percent of the US population, but drink about half of the alcohol.
[ref.]