「经济学人」Gen ZZZ

Youthful excess continues to decline

IN SEPTEMBER the Night Time Industries Association, a British trade group, issued a sobering press release. Since 2020, it revealed, 37% of Britain’s nightclubs had closed. Many shut during the pandemic and never reopened, but closures continue. If clubs do not stop closing, the NTIA predicted, by the end of the decade there will be almost nowhere left for Britons to get drunk, belt out “Mr Brightside” and then vomit in a gutter on the walk home at 2am.

Higher labour costs, tighter planning laws and more noise complaints are probably all playing their roles. But a key explanation is that their chief audience, the reckless young, are staying at home. Between 2011 and 2021, the proportion of British 16- to 24-year-olds who had not consumed one alcoholic drink in the past year doubled, from 19% to 38%. Another survey, of children aged between 11 and 15, found that, in 2021, 60% had never even tried a drink (two decades before, the figure was 39%). No wonder nightclubs are struggling.

The trend towards youthful sobriety holds true for much of the rich world. In 2024 illicit drug use among adolescents dropped to historical lows in America, according to a nationwide survey published on December 17th by the University of Michigan. Drinking fell, too. The researchers found that even cannabis use is now declining fast among the young, despite weed having been made legal in almost half of states over the past decade. European surveys show continuing drops in drug and alcohol use too.

Why is youthful excess dying out? There is no single explanation. Children are more closely watched than in the past, and a higher share of young adults are from more abstemious immigrant cultures. Age ID checks at bars are more common; Netflix and Fortnite are cheaper than cider; and dating apps are better than finding love on the sticky floors of a place called “Snobs”. The trend is clear and seems likely to last. It’s their parents who are the problem now.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Straighter edge”(Jan 2nd 2024)

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