The United States and Canada share the world’s longest undefended border, a common language across much of the continent, and a deep-rooted drinking culture — yet the two countries are diverging in surprising ways when it comes to alcohol. Americans drink more per capita, but Canada just rewrote its national alcohol guidelines in a way that made global headlines. Meanwhile, both nations are watching craft beer slow down and non-alcoholic alternatives surge.
Here are some quick stats to frame the comparison:
1. Americans drink 17% more pure alcohol per capita than Canadians — 9.5 litres versus 8.1 litres a year.
(Source: OECD, Health at a Glance 2025)
According to the OECD’s most recent data, the average American aged 15 and older consumed 9.5 litres of pure alcohol in 2023, while the average Canadian consumed 8.1 litres. The US figure sits above the OECD average of 8.5 litres; Canada falls just below it. To put 9.5 litres in perspective, that’s roughly the equivalent of 530 standard American drinks — or about 10 drinks a week.
2. Canadian beer volumes dropped 4.5% in fiscal 2024 — extending an eight-year slide and marking the steepest total alcohol decline on record.
(Source: Statistics Canada)
Total Canadian alcohol sales fell 3.8% by volume to 2,988 million litres in the fiscal year ending March 2024 — the largest volume decline ever recorded since Statistics Canada began tracking alcohol sales in 1949. Beer took the biggest hit, with volumes dropping 4.5%, the eighth consecutive annual decline. Spirits fell 0.5% and wine dipped 0.3%. The only growing category was ciders and coolers, up 6.9%. Despite declining volumes, total dollar sales held nearly flat at C$26.2 billion, suggesting Canadians are drinking less but paying more per drink.
3. For the first time since 1969, spirits surpassed beer in American per capita alcohol consumption.
(Source: NIAAA Surveillance Report #121)
The NIAAA reported that 2022 marked the first year since 1969 in which per capita ethanol consumption from spirits exceeded that from beer in the United States. Overall US per capita consumption stood at 2.50 gallons of ethanol in 2022, a slight decrease from 2.53 gallons in 2021. But the composition has shifted dramatically: since 2000, spirits consumption has risen 65.6% and wine has climbed 35.5%, while beer consumption has dropped 17.1%. In Canada, beer still holds the largest share of the market (35.1% of dollar sales), but its dominance is fading there too.
4. Excessive alcohol kills roughly 178,000 Americans a year. Canada, with one-ninth the population, records about 17,000 alcohol-attributable deaths.
(Source: CDC MMWR and Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms)
The CDC reported that during 2020–2021, an average of 178,307 Americans died annually from excessive alcohol use — a 29.3% increase from 137,927 during 2016–2017, driven in large part by the COVID-19 pandemic. Among adults aged 20 to 49, one in five deaths was attributed to excessive alcohol. In Canada, the Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms project recorded 17,098 alcohol-attributable deaths in 2020. On a per capita basis, the US rate (approximately 54 per 100,000) is about 24% higher than Canada’s (approximately 43 per 100,000). Excessive alcohol shortens the lives of those who die by an average of 24 years in the US.
5. Canada’s landmark 2023 alcohol guidance recommends no more than 2 standard drinks per week — down from previous limits of 10 for women and 15 for men.
(Source: Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction)
In January 2023, the CCSA released new national alcohol guidance that made international headlines. The updated framework presents a continuum of risk: 0 drinks per week carries no risk, 1–2 drinks per week is low risk, 3–6 is moderate risk, and 7 or more is increasingly high risk. This was a dramatic departure from Canada’s 2011 Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines, which set limits at 10 standard drinks per week for women and 15 for men. A subsequent study found that over 52% of Canadian drinkers exceeded the new 2-drink threshold — 4.6 times the proportion that exceeded the old guidelines. The US has no equivalent national drinking guideline of this kind, though the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend no more than 2 drinks per day for men and 1 for women.
6. The US alcohol-impaired driving death rate is nearly 4 times Canada’s per capita.
(Source: NHTSA and MADD Canada)
In 2023, 12,429 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in the United States — about one person every 42 minutes. Alcohol-impaired crashes accounted for 30% of all US traffic fatalities. In Canada, MADD Canada reported 391 people killed in crashes involving a drunk driver in 2021 (the most recent year available), representing 27% of road crash deaths. Adjusting for population, the US rate of approximately 3.7 deaths per 100,000 is nearly four times Canada’s rate of roughly 1.0 per 100,000. Differences in driving distances, road infrastructure, and law enforcement practices — such as the fact that some US states prohibit sobriety checkpoints — likely contribute to the gap.
7. Canada’s police-reported impaired driving rate fell to its lowest on record in 2023 — the fourth consecutive annual decline.
(Source: Statistics Canada, via MADD Canada Annual Report 2023–2024)
In 2023, Canadian police reported 71,602 impaired driving incidents — a rate of 179 per 100,000 population, the lowest ever recorded. The rate of impaired driving deaths has decreased 55% between 1996 and 2021. On average, 215 federal criminal charges and provincial licence suspensions for impaired driving are laid every day in Canada. Despite these improvements, 5.9% of Canadian drivers still admitted to driving after drinking over the legal limit in the past 30 days in a 2024 survey.
8. Excessive alcohol costs the US economy an estimated $249 billion a year — about $2.05 per drink.
(Source: CDC)
The CDC estimated that excessive alcohol use cost the United States $249 billion in 2010 (the most recent comprehensive national estimate). Workplace productivity losses accounted for 72% of total costs, while criminal justice expenses represented another 10%. Binge drinking alone drove 77% of the total cost ($191.1 billion). Government bore 40.4% of these costs — over $100 billion. Researchers noted that the figure likely underestimates the true economic burden, as alcohol consumption is typically underreported in surveys and pain and suffering costs were excluded.
9. Alcohol cost the Canadian economy C$19.7 billion in 2020 — exceeding net government alcohol revenue by C$6 billion.
(Source: Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms, 2007–2020 and CCSA)
Alcohol was the costliest substance in Canada in 2020, accounting for 40.1% of all substance use costs — ahead of tobacco, opioids, and cannabis. Costs increased 21% over the study period of 2007–2020. What makes this figure especially striking is the CCSA’s “alcohol deficit” analysis: net government revenue from alcohol sales in 2020 was C$13 billion, while net social costs were C$19 billion, leaving a C$6 billion gap. In other words, for every dollar governments collected from alcohol, they spent roughly $1.50 dealing with the consequences.
10. The US has 9,796 craft breweries — more than 8 times Canada’s approximately 1,200.
(Source: Brewers Association and Canadian Craft Brewers Association)
The American craft brewing industry reported 9,796 operating craft breweries in 2024, producing 23.1 million barrels and generating an estimated $28.8 billion in retail sales. However, 2024 was the first year since 2005 in which brewery closures (529) outpaced openings (430), and craft volume fell 3.9%. In Canada, the CCBA reported approximately 1,200 craft breweries, with 70 closures in 2024 alone. The CCBA notes that input costs for Canadian craft brewers are roughly three times those faced by foreign-owned mainstream multinationals. On a per capita basis, the US has roughly one craft brewery per 34,000 people, versus one per 33,000 in Canada — remarkably similar despite the 8-to-1 gap in absolute numbers.
11. Nearly 28 million Americans — about 1 in 10 people aged 12 and older — have alcohol use disorder.
(Source: NIAAA)
The 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 27.9 million Americans aged 12 and older (9.7%) had alcohol use disorder in the past year. Among adults 18 and older, the rate was 10.3% — with men (12.9%) significantly more affected than women (8.0%). An additional 775,000 adolescents aged 12–17 had AUD. Despite the scale of the problem, only about 7.8% of adults with AUD received any form of treatment. In Canada, comparable nationwide AUD prevalence data is harder to find, but Statistics Canada reported that approximately 19% of Canadian adults qualified as heavy drinkers in 2023 — a related but not directly equivalent metric.
12. Non-alcoholic beer sales surged 23% in the US and 24% in Canada in 2024.
Both countries are seeing explosive growth in the non-alcoholic beverage category. In the US, IWSR reported that no-alcohol beer volumes surged 23% in 2024, matching a five-year compound annual growth rate of 23%. NielsenIQ projects US non-alcoholic beer sales will surpass $1 billion by the end of 2025, with 213 companies now producing NA brands — up 134% from 91 in 2021. In Canada, total non-alcoholic beverage sales reached C$199 million from June 2023 to June 2024, a 24% year-over-year increase. Non-alcoholic beer accounts for 76% of Canada’s NA category. In both countries, over 75% of NA beverage buyers also purchase alcoholic products, suggesting moderation rather than total abstinence is driving the trend.
13. Canadians pay roughly 5 times more in beer taxes than Americans.
(Source: Beer Canada and TTB)
Taxes account for approximately 47% of the retail price of beer in Canada, including federal excise duties, provincial markups, and sales taxes. The federal excise rate for standard beer is C$36.23 per hectolitre, and the rate is indexed to inflation annually (capped at 2% through 2026). In the United States, the standard federal excise tax on beer is US$18 per barrel (31 gallons), with small brewers producing under 2 million barrels paying just US$3.50 per barrel on the first 60,000 barrels. US federal beer excise rates are not indexed for inflation and have not been raised in decades. The result: by industry estimates, Canadians pay roughly five times what Americans pay in beer taxes. This tax gap is frequently cited as a reason why beer prices in Canada are significantly higher, even accounting for the exchange rate.
14. The US minimum legal drinking age of 21 — three years higher than most Canadian provinces — has saved an estimated 30,000 lives since 1975.
The United States has one of the highest minimum legal drinking ages in the world at 21. Canada, by contrast, sets the age at 18 in Alberta, Manitoba, and Quebec, and 19 in all other provinces and territories. NHTSA estimates the US age-21 law saves approximately 800–900 lives per year and has prevented an estimated 30,000 traffic deaths since states began raising the age in 1975. Of the 29 studies completed since the early 1980s that evaluated increases in the drinking age, 20 found significant decreases in traffic crashes and fatalities. Since the early 1980s, drunk driving deaths among US drivers aged 16–20 have dropped 77% — the steepest improvement of any age group.
15. 79% of Canadian adults consumed alcohol in the past year, compared with about 67% of Americans.
(Source: Health Canada and NIAAA)
Despite drinking less per capita, a significantly larger share of Canadians drink at least occasionally. Health Canada’s 2023 Canadian Substance Use Survey found that 79% of adults consumed alcohol in the past 12 months, and 90% had tried alcohol at some point in their lives. In the US, the NIAAA reports that 66.5% of adults aged 18 and older drank in the past year (2024 NSDUH data). The 12-point gap suggests that American drinkers who do drink tend to consume more per person, while Canada has a broader base of moderate drinkers. Canada’s lower legal drinking age may also play a role: 73% of Canadian youth and young adults aged 15–24 consumed alcohol in the past year, a figure that includes many who are legally allowed to drink.
Wrapping Up
The numbers paint a clear picture of two countries with shared drinking traditions but increasingly different trajectories. Americans consume more alcohol per capita, face a higher drunk driving death rate, and bear a heavier economic toll from excessive drinking. Canada, meanwhile, is grappling with its own challenges — eight consecutive years of declining beer volumes, rising alcohol-related costs that exceed government revenue from alcohol by billions, and a craft brewing industry where closures are outpacing openings and input costs dwarf those of larger competitors.
The most striking divergence may be in policy direction. Canada’s 2023 alcohol guidance — recommending no more than 2 drinks per week — represents the most aggressive official position on alcohol risk from any major Western nation. The US has no equivalent guideline shift on the horizon. Both countries, however, are seeing the same consumer trend: non-alcoholic beer is the fastest-growing segment in both markets, suggesting that regardless of what governments recommend, a growing number of North Americans are choosing to drink less on their own.