Women's Binge Drinking Rises While Men's Declines... Men in Their 40s Still Have the Highest Rate

Gender Gap in Binge Drinking Narrows Over the Past Decade
Men in Their 40s Maintain Highest Rate at Around 65%

Over the past decade, the proportion of men who engage in binge drinking at least once a month has decreased, while the proportion of women has increased. However, the binge drinking rate among men in their 40s still remains the highest.

On May 10, Yonhap News cited a report released by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency titled "Monthly Binge Drinking Experiences and Prevalence of Chronic Diseases Among Annual Drinkers," to report these findings.

The report analyzed the trend in monthly binge drinking rates among annual drinkers in South Korea from 2015 to 2024, based on the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Monthly binge drinking rate refers to the proportion of people who, at least once a month in the past year, consumed seven or more drinks or five or more cans of beer in a single sitting for men, and five or more drinks or three or more cans of beer for women.

The analysis showed that the monthly binge drinking rate among all men decreased from 61.8% in 2015 to 56.7% in 2024. In contrast, the rate for women increased from 31.2% to 33.4% during the same period.

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By age group, the decline among men was most pronounced in their 20s and 30s. For men in their 20s, the monthly binge drinking rate dropped from 62.2% to 51.6%, while for men in their 30s, it fell from 69.6% to 57.2%. On the other hand, men in their 40s recorded the highest monthly binge drinking rate in 2024 at 65.3% among all age and gender groups. This figure is similar to the 64.7% recorded in 2015.

The age group with the highest monthly binge drinking rate has also changed. In 2014, men in their 30s had the highest rate at 69.6%, but in 2024, men in their 40s reached the highest level.

Among women, the increase was most notable in their 30s. The monthly binge drinking rate for women in their 30s rose from 33.8% in 2015 to 42.1% in 2023. Among all age groups of women, those in their 20s had the highest binge drinking rate, with 44.3% in 2014 and 44.0% in 2024, maintaining a high level.

Regarding binge drinking frequency, the most common response among men was "about once a week" at 31.0%, while for women, "about once a month" was most frequent at 14.8%.

The research team explained, "Over the past 10 years, the monthly binge drinking rate among men has decreased while that among women has increased, narrowing the gender gap. However, the rate among men remains high, especially among those in their 40s."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.