MANHATTAN — Brooklyn may be the driest borough in New York City, according to a city report on excessive drinking.
About one in three, or 31.5 percent, of non-drinking adult New Yorkers lived in the city's most populous borough in 2014, according to a study published Tuesday by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. That's compared to 30.8 percent in Queens, 17.9 percent in The Bronx, 14.8 percent in Manhattan, and 5 percent in Staten Island.
The Health Department defines "non-drinking" as "never drinking or not consuming at least one alcoholic drink during the past 30 days."
Brooklyn was also home to about a quarter of the city's binge drinkers, which are women who consumed four or more alcoholic drinks on one occasion within a 30-day period in 2014, or men who drank five or more at one time.
Only Manhattan had a greater share of the city's binge drinkers vs. non-drinkers, according to data collected in the Health Department's 2014 Community Health Survey. Almost a third of the binge drinking New Yorkers surveyed — 29.9 percent — lived in Manhattan.
Overall, 54 percent of adult survey participants reported consuming one alcoholic beverage within a 30-day period in 2014. Of those, 29 percent classified themselves as binge drinkers.
"Binge drinking is dangerous for many reasons and continues to be a serious public health concern," said Corey Johnson, chair of the City Council's health committee, in a statement. "When nearly thirty percent of adult drinkers report that they binge drink that means our City has more outreach and education to do."
The city agency's study also found that binge drinkers were less likely to have health insurance or a routine healthcare provider, and more likely to smoke than those who drank less alcohol.
New Yorkers were most likely to drink to excess if they were male, white, middle class, U.S.-born, college-educated and between the ages of 25 and 44, the report said.
Excessive drinking is known to increase the risk of injury, depression, hypertension and other serious health issues.
