The news of Gérard Depardieu’s heroic alcohol intake prompted Duggan’s Dew to do a little research. Our intrepid reporter came up with this chart. It is a power curve of alcohol consumption by population decile. A shocking 30% of the population drinks nothing at all. (I did not know we had so many teetotallers, Mormons and Muslims) The fourth, fifth and sixth deciles might have a drink or two at Christmas or on an anniversary, and nothing in between. The seventh and eighth deciles might have one before dinner. The ninth decile goes through a bottle of wine nearly every day, maybe letting their wife and kids have a glass or two- which is pretty generous of them really. And the people you want to know and with whom you can have a good time before they die are in the tenth decile.
The top ten percent of drinkers account for over half the alcohol consumed in any given year.
For more information, see the article in the Washington Post.