Nigeria’s youngest generation is showing considerably lower levels of recent alcohol consumption than older age groups, reflecting a wider shift in how young people around the world approach drinking.

By PRINCESS OSE ALUEDE

For generations, alcohol has been a familiar part of adult social life. From weddings and birthdays to parties, dinners and nights out, drinking has often been presented as almost inseparable from celebration and having a good time.

But Nigeria’s youngest generation appears to be approaching that culture differently.

Gen Z, broadly the generation born from the late 1990s to the early 2010s is coming of age at a time when health consciousness, financial pressure, changing lifestyles and new forms of socialising are influencing attitudes towards alcohol.

Nigeria’s youngest adults are drinking less. The 2024 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) provides a useful comparison across age groups.

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Among Nigerian men aged 15–49, only 7.7% of those aged 15–19 said they had consumed alcohol in the month before the survey.

That figure more than doubled to 18.9% among men aged 20–24 and continued rising among older age groups, reaching roughly 26–28% among men aged 30 and above.

The pattern is similar among women, although overall alcohol consumption is considerably lower.

Only 3.7% of women aged 15–19 reported drinking in the previous month. This increased to 6.9% among women aged 20–24 and about 7–8% among women in their late twenties and older age groups.

Put simply, Nigeria’s youngest adults are at the bottom of the alcohol-consumption ladder, while the proportion rises amongst the older generation.

That difference matters for an industry whose future depends on younger consumers eventually becoming regular customers.

It is not just a Nigerian conversation. Nigeria’s figures form part of a wider conversation about young people’s changing relationship with alcohol.

Globally, Gen Z has not completely abandoned drinking. The latest IWSR research shows that 74% of legal drinking age Gen Z consumers across 15 major markets reported drinking alcohol, compared with 81% of Millennials and 77% of Gen X.

However, the important change is how much, how often and why younger consumers drink.

IWSR reports that Gen Z consumers are becoming more selective, with the average number of beverage categories consumed during an occasion falling from 2.8 to 1.8 over two years.

The emerging message is therefore not necessarily, “We will never drink.” A generation changing the market

That shift has consequences for the alcohol industry.

IWSR reported that beverage-alcohol volumes across 15 key markets fell by 3% in 2025, following a 2% decline in 2024. Meanwhile, no alcohol beverages were among the categories performing better.

The industry is therefore facing a consumer who is becoming increasingly comfortable with moderation.

For businesses that have traditionally depended on increasing consumption, that is a significant change.

For some young people, it is about health. For others, it is the cost of alcohol. Some simply do not enjoy drinking, while others prefer remaining in control when socialising.

There is also a growing range of alternatives.

Mocktails, alcohol-free cocktails and other non-alcoholic beverages allow young people to participate in social occasions without alcohol having to be part of the experience.

The result is a generation with more choices and potentially less pressure to drink simply because everyone else is doing it.

And this is good news

For the alcohol industry, fewer young consumers drinking regularly could represent a worrying commercial trend.

For society, however, it could be a reason for optimism.

Alcohol consumption is associated with significant health and social risks, particularly when drinking becomes excessive or habitual. A generation that is more comfortable moderating its consumption or choosing not to drink at all could potentially reduce some of those harms.

More importantly, Gen Z may be helping to challenge an old social assumption: that you need alcohol to have fun.

Friends can still connect without alcohol sitting at the centre of the table

So while the alcohol industry may be watching the changing habits of younger consumers with concern, there is another way to look at the story.

If Gen Z is becoming more comfortable saying “No” to alcohol, perhaps this is not a generation losing something but a generation gaining more control over how it chooses to live.