As the calendar flips to a new year, you have to admire the resolutions that are narrow enough in ambition to actually pull off. Quitting a vice or working out consistently for an entire year? That can be an incredibly tall order. But limiting it to just a month of self-improvement, in the case of something like Dry January, becomes a little bit easier to pull off.
CivicScience has tracked sentiment in Dry January, or giving up alcoholic beverages entirely for the first month of the year, for a number of years. After a tumble in interest among U.S. adults who drink alcohol heading into 2021, intent to participate in Dry January rebounded to exceed pre-pandemic levels in 2022 – and it’s just down a hair for 2023.
Dry January remains a young person’s game – but especially so heading into 2023. The 25-34 age group outpaced all others last year, but Gen Z leads the way this year (55% at least ‘somewhat likely’). Millennial intent is down significantly from 2022, and the oldest age bracket has increased a hair (41%, up from 39%).
The rise in non-alcoholic beer and Dry January are natural partners, for those who are looking for some approximation of the real thing next month. According to CivicScience data, there’s a high correlation between intent to try non-alcoholic beer in the last year and Dry January intent – nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults who drink alcohol and intend to try non-alcoholic beer are at least somewhat likely to have a dry month. That said, those who have tried non-alcoholic beer are also the least likely to participate in Dry January.
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