ArticleAddiction (Abingdon, England)2026
Has alcohol consumption in England returned to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels? A monthly population study, 2014 to 2024.
Article in Addiction (Abingdon, England), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Phenomic profiles and disease patterns of 1.9 million participants from Our Future Health.Nature medicine · 2026Article
- A Data-Driven Exploratory Analysis of the Alcohol-Harm Paradox in South-East Wales.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- How Have Alcohol Producers Changed the Alcohol Content of Their Products? A Descriptive Analysis of Reformulation in the Off-Trade Alcohol Market in Great Britain, 2018-2025.Drug and alcohol review · 2026Article
- Has alcohol consumption in England returned to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels? A monthly population study, 2014 to 2024.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Article
- Alcohol use and support receipt among people experiencing homelessness in England: a cross-sectional analysis with comparison to private household populations.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Trends in motives for attempts to reduce alcohol consumption among risky adult drinkers in England: A representative population survey, 2017-2024.Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
aimTo determine whether alcohol consumption in England had returned to pre-pandemic levels by December 2024, after the initial rise in 2020 across the total population and subgroups.
designMonthly representative surveys were conducted through face-to-face interviews until February 2020, and then by telephone.
settingEngland, March 2014 to December 2024.
participants208 010 adults aged 18+ living in private households. MEASUREMENTS: Mean weekly alcohol consumption (in UK units), prevalence of risky drinking (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test for Consumption [AUDIT-C] score≥5), and possible dependence (AUDIT-C ≥ 11). Further measures included age, gender, and social grade.
findingsAll outcomes increased in April 2020: prevalence of risky drinking by 30.3% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 26.8, 33.8, from 26.2% in February 2020 to 34.0% in April 2020), prevalence of possible dependence by 90.2% (95% CI: 62.2, 122.9, from 0.9% to 1.7%) and mean weekly alcohol consumption by 34.5% (95% CI: 31.0, 38.0, from 5.0 units to 6.6 units). When adjusting for the survey mode change from face-to-face to telephone interviews, the step changes between February and April 2020 remained but were substantially attenuated. The post-pandemic trend declined more quickly than the pre-pandemic trend for the prevalence of risky drinking (difference: -1.5%/year, 95% CI: -2.4, -0.6) and mean weekly alcohol consumption (difference: -2.4%/year, 95% CI: -3.3, -1.6), indicating a slow but incomplete return to pre-pandemic levels. The trend in prevalence of possible dependence was similarly stable before and after the pandemic (difference: -1.3%/year, 95% CI: -6.2, 3.8). Alcohol consumption declined more slowly among people from less advantaged than from more advantaged social grades.
conclusionsThe prevalence of risky drinking and mean weekly alcohol consumption in England appear to be trending towards pre-pandemic levels but the prevalence of dependent drinking in England appears to have increased since the start of the pandemic and remains elevated compared with pre-pandemic levels. Alcohol-related inequalities may be worsening due to slower declines in consumption following the pandemic among less advantaged drinkers.
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