Of the entire NLAES sample, 66 percent (n = 27,616) were classified as lifetime drinkers, including current (n = 18,352) and former (n = 9,264) drinkers. Approximately 50.6 percent (n = 13,990) of the lifetime drinkers were male and 49.4 percent (n = 13,626) were female. With respect to the racial distribution, 11.1 percent (n = 3,062) of lifetime drinkers were black and 88.9 percent (n = 24,554) were white. Among the lifetime drinkers in the NLAES study, classification according to both race and gender resulted in 12,518 (45.3 percent) white males; 12,036 (43.6 percent) white females; 1,472 (5.3 percent) black males; and 1,590 (5.8 percent) black females.
