Gen Z turning away from Dry Jan

By Hamish Graham

Published: 08 December, 2025

New research from IWSR’s Bevtrac survey can reveal that Gen Z drinkers are showing less interest in ‘monthlong abstinence spells’ such as Dry January and Sober October.

Gen Z drinkers of legal drinking age (LDA+) from the UK who reported “abstaining from alcohol for a month or longer during the past six months”, dropped from 33% in Autumn 2024 to 24% in Autumn 2025.

By contrast, IWSR’s survey of consumer behaviour revealed Gen Z LDA+ drinkers in the UK who reported drinking in the past six months has been on the up – reaching 79% in Autumn 2025, a rise since Spring 2025 (76%) and Spring 2023 (66%), respectively.

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Across the entirety of the UK market temporary abstinence is on the decline, with the overall figure sinking from 39% to 35%.

Similar trends are being seen across all 15 international markets IWSR assesses – Gen Z participation in monthlong dry spells falling slightly from 30% in Autumn 2024 to 28% in Autumn 2025.

France, Brazil and Italy have all seen Gen Z participation in monthlong abstinence decline, with the latter seeing a notable drop of 26% to 16%. An even more precipitous fall was seen amongst younger Australians, with their participation dropping from 39% to 24%. This trend has flatlined in the US with the figure only declining from 32% to 31%.

The trends witnessed are important for the drinks industry to pay attention to, so reflected IWSR president and MD, Marten Lodewijks: “Temporary abstinence appears to be less central to moderation strategies than it once was. This is especially the case among Gen Z LDA+ drinkers, who have always been its most enthusiastic adopters.”

He added: “Moderation is still an important trend across the entire beverage alcohol industry, but performative abstinence periods are less of the driving force they once were. Instead, consumers moderate by drinking less often and, when they do drink, they tend to drink less. This is partly driven by shifting attitudes and social trends, but it’s clear that declining disposable income is also a key factor.

“Gen Z LDA+ continues to converge with the general population when it comes to drinking habits. We expect the already small gap to shrink further as more of Gen Z enters the full-time workforce.”

Millennials are the generation that continue to be most engaged with beverage alcohol, though there are signs of increasing moderation. The overall reporting of drinking over the past six months has seen a decline from 83% in Spring of this year to 81% in Autumn 2025 amongst this cohort globally.

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