44% of Flemish Adults Now Rarely or Never Drink Alcohol

More than four in ten adults in Flanders now say they drink alcohol rarely or never, according to a new study commissioned by the cancer charity Kom op tegen Kanker. The survey of 2,292 Flemish adults found that 44 percent report abstaining or drinking only occasionally, up sharply from 36 percent four years earlier. The results were released on 1 October to coincide with the start of Sober October, a month-long initiative encouraging people to give up alcohol.

A cultural shift in the making

The headline figure breaks down into 18 percent of respondents who never drink alcohol and 26 percent who do so almost never, according to the Kom op tegen Kanker press release announcing the findings. In 2022, the equivalent figures were 14 percent and 22 percent.

“It is becoming increasingly normal to drink less alcohol,” said Ward Rommel, head of study and policy at Kom op tegen Kanker. “We are seeing a clear shift: drinking less or no alcohol is becoming more and more normal, while knowledge about the risks of alcohol is growing. That is a hopeful signal.”

The VRT NWS coverage notes that the survey was conducted between 6 and 21 May 2026 using the Bpact online panel, with results weighted by gender, age, education level and province. The research was carried out by the agency Indiville.

Old myths are fading

Several long-standing beliefs about alcohol appear to be losing ground. In 2022, 45 percent of Flemish respondents wrongly believed that moderate drinking was good for the heart and blood vessels; that figure has now fallen to 36 percent. Similarly, the share who believe one glass of alcohol a day is harmless dropped from roughly half to 34 percent.

Knowledge about specific health risks remains uneven, however. Nine in ten respondents know that alcohol increases the risk of liver disease, and seven in ten are aware of the risk of brain damage. But the link to cancer is still widely misunderstood. Half of those surveyed do not know that alcohol raises the risk of bowel cancer, and 75 percent are unaware of the increased risk of breast cancer.

“There is a clear lack of knowledge about the link between alcohol and cancer,” Rommel said. “Drinking alcohol carries risks, including with light to moderate consumption.”

Growing support for tighter rules

The study also gauged attitudes toward regulation. Twenty-nine percent now consider stricter rules a good way to encourage more conscious alcohol use, up from 25 percent in 2022. Support for raising the minimum drinking age is particularly strong: 60 percent favor a minimum age of at least 18 for all alcoholic drinks, compared with 55 percent four years ago. Within that group, 21 percent would set the threshold at 21 — a notable rise from 17 percent.

Belgium currently allows the purchase of beer and wine from age 16, with all other alcoholic drinks restricted to those 18 and over — one of the most permissive regimes in Europe.

The picture is not purely a matter of law. Social pressure to drink also appears to be easing: 58 percent of respondents say they feel little or no need to justify not drinking, up from 52 percent in 2022, while the share who do feel that pressure fell from 31 percent to 25 percent.

Alcohol-free alternatives are becoming part of everyday life. Fifty-nine percent of Flemish respondents have tried alcohol-free beer and 32 percent have tried alcohol-free wine, while only 26 percent have never tried any alcohol-free drink. Among those who drink both alcoholic and non-alcoholic options, 36 percent say they drink no alcohol at all on such occasions.

A policy debate that is far from settled

The findings land in the middle of a broader public argument over how Belgium should treat alcohol. In late August, more than 100 brewers published a full-page advertisement opposing a planned tightening of advertising rules and objecting to a new slogan stating simply that “alcohol harms health,” as VRT NWS reported.

Health experts have pushed back. The WHO’s alcohol fact sheet describes alcohol as an established carcinogen associated with a range of cancers — including breast, liver, head and neck, oesophageal and colorectal cancer — and states that there is no form of alcohol consumption that is risk-free. VRT NWS, reporting on the WHO’s assessment, notes that alcohol raises the risk of at least seven types of cancer and that the organisation sees no safe level of consumption when it comes to cancer risk. The Flemish expertise centre VAD supports the recommendations of Belgium’s Superior Health Council, which has called since 2018 for a ban on alcohol marketing, mandatory warning labels, a minimum unit price, and raising the minimum age to 18 for all alcoholic drinks.

“People ultimately make their own choices, but they have the right to know that drinking alcohol carries risks, even with light to moderate consumption,” Rommel said. “The fact that more and more Flemish people drink less or not at all, and that alcohol-free drinks are becoming mainstream, shows that this social change is well underway.”

What to watch

Whether the growing public appetite for tighter rules will translate into legislation remains an open question. Belgium’s interfederal alcohol plan, approved in 2024, was judged insufficient by the Superior Health Council. For now, the study suggests the shift in Flanders is being driven less by regulation than by changing habits — and that closing the gap in public understanding of alcohol’s cancer risks will be the next major challenge for health campaigners.