YouGov : One in twelve Brits are taking part in Dry January 2021

Nearly three in ten Dry January participants have already had a drink only a week into the challenge

New YouGov figures show that 8% of Britons are attempting to stay sober all of January. As nearly three in ten people (28%) are teetotal, this means 11% of people who drink are participating in Dry January.

People aged 25 to 49 who drink are the most likely to join in at 14%, while 50-64-year-olds who normally consume alcohol are the least bothered at 9%.

While most people taking part in the challenge (72%) have managed to stay off the booze, nearly three in ten have consumed alcohol only a week into January. This includes a fifth (20%) who are still trying to cut back despite slipping up, while 8% of participants have now admitted defeat.

Despite some social media users saying that the government's lockdown announcement on 4 January surely meant that Dry January was off the cards, there has not been any significant change in how many people have fallen off the wagon in the first week of 2021 compared with data from 7 January 2020.

With pubs closed and social gatherings banned, some may even find it easier to stick with the challenge this year. Our data from last year shows that about half of all participants (52%) managed to stay completely sober, while most of those who failed did so in the first two weeks.

See the full results here