Hazardous drinking among women aged 55–64 has risen by almost 80% since 2000, new NHS figures reveal — part of a striking generational divide as hazardous drinking falls dramatically among younger adults but remains stubbornly high in middle and later life.

Harmful drinking among women aged 55–64 in England has risen by nearly 80% since 2000, according to the latest NHS England figures, increasing from around 8% of women to more than 14% in 2023/24 – almost an 80% increase which is clearly a national health concern.

The scale of the increase among women in this age group is particularly striking. While hazardous drinking has fallen dramatically among younger generations, it has moved in the opposite direction among women aged 55–64. The increase from 7.9% to 14.2% was found by NHS England to be statistically significant.

The figures reveal a wider generational shift. Hazardous drinking has more than halved among men aged 16–24 since 2000 and almost halved among women of the same age, while there was no significant decline among adults aged 45–74.

Separate Health Survey for England figures reinforce the older-age pattern: 29% of adults aged 65–74 drank more than the recommended 14 units a week in 2024 — the highest proportion of any age group.

Men also remain significantly affected. Almost one in four men, 24.8%, were drinking at hazardous levels or above in the latest survey.

A new book by author James McInally believes the figures highlight a group who can be easily overlooked: people whose lives may look completely normal from the outside, but who privately know their relationship with alcohol is changing.

“Some people can be functioning extremely well in almost every area of their life while becoming increasingly worried about their drinking,” McInally said.

“You can have the job, the house, the family, the holidays and a life that looks completely together and yet wake in the morning thinking, ‘Why did I drink that much again?’

“That person may never have missed a day’s work. Nobody may have confronted them about their drinking, or it may be an elephant in the room in some households. They may not remotely identify with the word ‘alcoholic’. But they know something has changed in their alcohol consumption and, often, the first honest thought isn’t ‘I have an alcohol problem’. It’s much simpler: ‘I’m drinking more than I want to.’

McInally says that we need to take this seriously. He receives many calls from people in that age bracket who know something has to change but don’t know how or where to start.

“This is a substantial group who recognise that their drinking has increased, may already have tried unsuccessfully to cut down, but do not know what to do next and may be unlikely to go to their doctor or seek therapeutic help.”

Reaching people at this stage is one of the reasons McInally wrote Alcohol: Cut Down. Stop. Stay Stopped., a practical self-help book for anyone who wants to reduce their drinking, stop completely or maintain abstinence. It cover many modalities and approaches to drinking to help people cut down or stop, using practical ideas and proven psychology and science.

“But there is an enormous space between having no concerns about alcohol whatsoever and your life potentially collapsing because of it. For many people it doesn’t arrive as a dramatic crisis, it creeps up on them, little by little, until drinking more than they wanted has simply become normal.”

“If you decide every Sunday that you’re not going to drink during the week and find yourself opening a bottle on Monday at “wine o’clock”, that matters. If one glass routinely becomes two glasses, then a bottle, that matters. If you’re using alcohol to switch your brain off, sleep or get relief from anxiety, that’s also a concern.”

“Many people can cut down or stop for two-to-three days but then slip back in to higher drinker patterns. These patterns and habits can be broken and people can change.”

Rather than advocating one solution, Alcohol: Cut Down. Stop. Stay Stopped. gives readers practical information and strategies for changing their drinking, explains why change can be difficult and outlines different forms of help and support.

McInally writes from lived experience of alcohol use disorder and long-term recovery, alongside years spent supporting people concerned about their drinking.

“I wrote the book for that person, and for anyone wanting to change their relationship with alcohol,” McInally said. “The person quietly thinking, ‘Maybe I am drinking too much. What can I actually do about it?’

Alcohol: Cut Down. Stop. Stay Stopped., published under the name J.S. McInally, is available in paperback and Kindle editions through Amazon, with editions also listed on Apple Books and other stores.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alcohol-Stopped-Complete-Step-Step-ebook/dp/B0HCYDFLNK

Sources: NHS England, Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey: Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, England, 2023/24, Chapter 5: Alcohol; Health Survey for England 2024.

Press Contact:

jamesmcinally@gmail.com

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