IELTS Graph # 313 – Drinking habits of the US population by age

IELTS Academic Writing Task 1/ Graph Writing – Bar/ Column Graph:

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The graph gives information about the drinking habits of the US population by age.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

You should write at least 150 words.

Drinking habits by age (US)

Model Answer 1:
The bar graph presents a vivid picture of the drinking habits of the U.S. population across different age groups, separating individuals into four categories, namely: “never drinkers”, “ex-drinkers”, “light drinkers”, and “heavy drinkers”.

Overall, there is a clear age-related trend: drinking behaviour in the U.S. shifts markedly over the life course as many young people begin as abstainers, then drift into more habitual drinking during middle age, and finally reduce or stop consumption in later life.

In detail, the youngest cohort (16 to 24 years) is dominated by never drinkers, making up around 60%, with small percentages in the ex-drinker and heavy drinker categories. As age increases to 25-34 and 35-44, the share of never drinkers declines, while light and heavy drinking rise, particularly among middle-aged adults. For instance, in the 45-54 age group, heavy drinkers reach their highest share, approximately 15%. Ex-drinkers, meanwhile, steadily grow in proportion as people move into older age brackets, peaking in the 65-74 group, where a significant portion of the population has stopped drinking altogether.

 
Model Answer 2:
The bar chart illustrates the drinking habits of the US population, categorised into four groups: “Never Drinker”, “Ex-drinker”, “Light Drinker”, and “Heavy Drinker”, across five distinct age brackets.

Overall, the data reveals a clear correlation between age and drinking habits of the US citizens. The most prominent trend is that the proportion of those who have never consumed alcohol declines significantly with age, while the percentage of ex-drinkers shows an opposing, sharp increase as the population gets older.

Regarding the younger demographics, the 16 to 24-year-olds are overwhelmingly defined by abstinence, with approximately six out of ten reporting that they have never drunk alcohol – a figure that is more than double that of any other age group. Furthermore, this bracket has the lowest rate of both Ex-drinkers and Heavy Drinkers, at about 10% and 5%, respectively. The subsequent group, 25-34, shows a noticeable shift, with the ‘Never Drinker’ category falling to approximately 55%, while ‘Light Drinkers’ reach their peak at over 30%.

A different pattern emerges in the middle-aged and older cohorts. Chronic alcohol consumption is highest among those aged 35-54, where ‘Heavy Drinkers’ account for the greatest proportion across the chart, at roughly 12-15%. However, the most striking feature is the dramatic increase in ‘Ex-drinker’ in the senior population. This category rises steadily from the 35-54 group to peak in the 65+ bracket, where almost 40% of the population has given up drinking, making it the single largest category in that demographic.

 
Sample Answer 3:
The bar graph outlines the drinking habits of American citizens based on their age group. As can be seen, US citizens’ drinking pattern greatly varies based on their age, and the elderly population over 65 years mostly abstain from drinking.

According to the diagram, 60% US citizens between 16 to 24 years old have never been on alcohol, while roughly 10% of them used to drink but now are abstainers. Around one-quarter of these young Americans are light drinkers, while the remaining 5% drink heavily. A similar pattern could be observed among the 25-34 year age group, but with an increasing ratio of irregular drinkers and almost 8% hard drinkers.

It is interesting to note that chronic alcoholics in the US are highest between the 35 and 54-year-old population, and this ratio is lower among the younger and senior citizens. The rate of people who have never had alcohol declines with the increase of age, and a reverse trend could be observed for the ex-drinkers, whose proportion hikes as people get older.

The highest ratio of hard drinkers falls between the 45-54 years age group, and the light drinkers are highest among the 25-34 years old Americans. Finally, an overwhelming number of the US population, almost 40%, quit drinking when they are over 64 years old.