What are we to make of the latest NHS statistics for silver drinking? They raise several questions. For example: are older people less likely to obsess about their health, reasoning that dwindling opportunities to enjoy wine outweigh the risks. And might the wealthier of them be consuming less but more discerningly? Has Lidl long been on to something in scoring its better wines? As reported by the BBC: “The latest data from the Health Survey for England for 2024 suggests 24% of adults said they haven’t drunk alcohol in the previous year. But far fewer older people abstain from alcohol and those who do drink, are likely to do so at more dangerous levels.” However, the picture is a bit more complicated. The stats show over 75s – 10.2% of them – are less likely to drink at “hazardous levels” than any other age group. The highest proportion of such drinkers (21%) was in the 55-64 age group. Hazardous means regularly drinking more than the recommended limit of 14 units (an average of 100 centilitres a week, though with alcohol volumes per bottle now ranging from 10% or lower to 16% calculating the real amount could, well, drive you to drink). But trends since 2000 show no overall change in such consumption among over 45s againt a fall among younger people – with a particularly sharp drop (40.7% in 2000, 18.1% in 2023/4) among 16 – 24 year olds.
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