The typical member of Alcoholics Anonymous defies the outdated stereotype of a homeless, unemployed male.
Today she is female, university educated, employed, over 50, and sober for 17 years.
A recent survey of Alcoholics Anonymous members has found that women outnumber men in AA for the first time in Australia, compared to previously collected data. In 2025, women made up 51% of AA members, which is in line with the proportion of women in the Australian population. This compares to 20 years ago, when women made up only 35% of AA's Australian membership.
In 2005, the typical AA member was male, over 40, retired, and with an average length of sobriety of 9.6 years. The new "university-educated, employed, female AA member" is now likely to have 17 years of continuous sobriety.
"I remember my first AA meeting in 1985" says Kylie*, who is now 40 years sober. "I stood out like a sore thumb, being 19 years old and female. There were other women around, and I got sober by staying close to them and using the strength of the AA program itself. I don't know how those first pioneer AA women who were in the tiny minority handled it. But obviously it worked, since more women than men are sober now!"
The survey demonstrates that AA membership is largely in line with other population data, too. About 1 percent of AA members identify as "non-binary" or "other gender" compared to the most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics population estimate of 0.9%.
Around 3% of AA members identify as belonging to First Nations communities, similar to the 2021 national census data of 3.2%. The representation trend continues with about 72% of AA members living in cities (compared with a national city population proportion of 67%), about 57% of AA members are working (compared with 58% of all Australians), and about 3.9% reporting as unemployed which is close to Australia's reported underlying unemployment rate.
In another major divergence to population data, almost half (46%) of AA members are university educated, compared to only 26% of the general population. It is likely that this over representation of education occurred during sobriety, as many AA members, once sober, enrich their lives with study and career development.
AA continues to grow, is free to join, and welcomes anyone who desires to stop drinking.
(Sources: AA membership Surveys, Australian Bureau of Statistics.)
* Due to the AA principle of anonymity, Kylie is not her real name, but she is a real person, female, university educated, employed, over 50, sober for 40 years).
