New figures show Dry January is becoming more popular

Dry January involves giving up alcohol for the first month of the year.

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It seems many Irish people are embracing Dry January, as new figures reveal the sale of non-alcohol drinks is on the rise.

Revenue data cited by the drinks industry representative body Drinks Ireland has shown that overall alcohol consumption is down by around 33 per cent in the last 20 years.

More consumers are opting for 0.0 percent beverages with non-alcohol beer sales having trebled since 2017 from 1.79 million to 5.55 million litres.

The trend is expected to continue here, but we have still to catch up with our European counterparts.

The director of Drinks Ireland, Cormac Healy, says we have a bit to go to catch up with other European countries:

"While the share of non-alcohol beer in the overall beer market has increased four-fold over recent years, we're still probably in the region of 1.5 to 2 percent of the overall market". 

The Healthy Ireland Survey 2021 also found 42 per cent of drinkers said they were drinking less, possibly due to Covid impacts on socialising.

Binge drinking came down to 15 per cent of the population, compared to 28 per cent before the Covid-19 pandemic.