WASHINGTON (AFP) -- U.S. men like to drink beer, though wine is the beverage of choice for women and older adults, a poll showed Friday.

The annual Gallup poll found that, as with previous years, wine drinkers are mostly based on the East Coast while beer aficionados live in the Midwest.

Drinking is commonplace in the United States, with two thirds (66 percent) of Americans saying they consume alcohol, and 44 percent saying they drank at least one alcoholic beverage a week.

While just 12 percent of drinkers told pollsters they had consumed eight or more drinks over the past week, 22 percent said they sometimes have too much to drink, up from 17 percent last year but similar to figures in previous years over the past decade.

The proportion of excessive drinkers tended to be higher before 2001, according to Gallup.

The poll found that 39 percent of U.S. drinkers most often drink beer, compared to 35 percent that drink wine and 22 percent that prefer liquor.

More than half of U.S. women -- 52 percent -- prefer wine, compared to 20 percent of men, according to the poll.

Some 59 percent of women over the age of 50 said wine was their drink of choice, up from 28 percent for men in the same age group.

Overall, the poll found that beer is the preferred beverage for those between the ages of 18 and 54, while adults aged 55 and older opt for wine.

The telephone poll surveyed 1,014 adults nationwide July 9-12, with a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points for the the total sample of national adults, and plus or minus five percentage points for adult drinkers.





<관련 한글 기사>

대부분 남성들 맥주 선호...여성들은?

미국의 남자들 대부분은 맥주를 선호하는 반면 여자와 노인층은 와인을 좋아하는 것으로 나타났다.

갤럽은 지난 7월9일 부터 12일 까지 미국 성인 1천14명을 대상으로 전화 여론조사를 실시한 결과, 와인 애호가들은 주로 동부지역에 살고 맥주광은 중서부에 거주했다고 밝혔다.

조사 결과 미국인들의 3분의 2인 66%가 술을 마시며 44%는 일주일에 최소한 한가지 이상 술을 마신다고 답변했다.

술을 마시는 이들 중 12%는 지난 일주일간 8병 이상 마셨고 22%는 가끔 과음한다고 응답했다.

이번 갤럽 조사 결과 미국인 음주자의 39%는 주로 맥주를 마시고 35%는 와인, 22%는 독주를 좋아했다.

미국 여성의 절반 이상인 52%가 와인을 선호해 남성의 20%와 비교됐다. 또 남녀 상관없이 18세부터 54세까지는 맥주를 즐기는 반면 55세 이상은 와인을 선호했다.

(코리아헤럴드)