Facts: Alcohol consumption
In IQ’s latest survey among students, 43 percent of girls and 30 percent of boys in ninth grade answer that they drank alcohol in the past year. drinking stopped in recent years. But now a reduction from last year is visible.
Among high school students, 67 percent answer that they drink alcohol. In 2004, almost 90 percent of second year high school students answered that they drank alcohol.
That teenagers drink less is not unique to Sweden. The same trend can be seen in several European and English-speaking countries.
Alcohol consumption among adults in Sweden has decreased since 2004, according to statistics from the Public Health Agency.
In 2004, consumption was 10.6 liters of pure alcohol per inhabitant (includes people aged 15 and over). In 2019, that figure was 8.7 liters.
Sobriety reflects its contemporaries. If the focus during the heyday of the sobriety movement was on alcohol as a social problem, the gaze now seems to have been turned inwards – towards one’s own well-being.
Opting out of alcohol has become a trend. Celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian has talked about his largely alcohol-free lifestyle and others who Katy Perry has launched its own non-alcoholic drinks. The statistics are clear, young people drink less and less.
The latest sobriety trend “sober curious”, which first appeared in the US a few years ago, is not so much about being completely sober as drinking consciously, reflecting on the role of alcohol in one’s life and exploring life with sober eyes.
Has become a bigger trend
Ulrika Lagerlöf Nilssonlecturer at the department of historical studies at Gothenburg University, thinks it is a sign of the times.
— It is typical that it comes now when the trend in society is very much about raising awareness of one’s actions. Through mindfulness – being aware of where I am right now – but also being aware of eating habits and which means of transport we use.
That the focus has shifted from broad societal solutions to more individual ones is not unique to the sobriety movement, says Pontus Strimlingwho researches moral views at the Institute for Future Studies.
— We see the shift from focusing on social solutions and law changes to instead talking about morality as an individual matter in several other large movements. In the equality movement, for example, there was much more focus on policy changes in the 1970s and 80s. Even within the environmental movement, where there is every reason to focus on policy, there is more talk about what individuals do.
Alcohol-free bubbly also feels luxurious. Stock photography. Alcohol-free options
If sober drinkers were previously referred to soft drinks and water, today there are a number of alcohol-free alternatives. It makes it easier to opt out of alcohol without renouncing the feeling of party and luxury that many associate with alcohol.
Although today we see sobriety as an individual choice, it is policy changes in society that have paved the way for the greater range of alcohol-free alternatives, points out Pontus Strimling.
— When alcohol is banned at football matches, it becomes more worthwhile for the beer industry to produce better alcohol-free alternatives.
He does not see that alcohol consumption will disappear, but that it will become more and more like flexitarianism, you may not opt out of something completely – but to some extent. Part of it is that we increasingly choose things that are harmful to us.
— We value our lives more and more, we value the lives of our children more and more. Overall, we want to be healthier, imagine living longer. We also live longer, so it is reasonable to take better care of our bodies.
Folk Sobriety Day is celebrated at Skansen in the 1950s. By then the temperance movement had already begun to lose momentum. Stock photography. The movement: Roots almost 200 years ago
The temperance movement in Sweden has roots almost 200 years back. It came here from the United States and began to take hold in the 1820s and 1830s to reach its peak around the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
It was not the same size throughout the country. Ulrika Lagerlöf Nilsson tells us that, for example, it had difficulty gaining a foothold in Gothenburg
— It did not agree with the Chartauan way of thinking. You were not allowed to exalt yourself, not think that you were something. If you were a sober person, there was a risk that you could become arrogant and say “look at me how good I am who can abstain”.
Together with the revival movement and the labor movement, it pushed for changes in society and became a power factor to be reckoned with. At the beginning of the 20th century, the movement’s people were in both the Riksdag and the government. Sweden’s first referendum since women’s suffrage was introduced was the vote on the “introduction of a complete intoxicant ban” in August 1922. The No side won by a narrow majority.