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The essay analyzes the mobilization of French demographers in "the fight against alcoholism" after the Second World War. Particular attention is paid to their role in the scientific and political re-problematization of this quintessentially French "social plague," which had hitherto remained the province of physicians. The interest in alcoholism manifested by the National Institute for Demographic Studies (INED) only reflected the growing anxiety over the demographic impact of alcoholism in "populationist" circles since the interwar period. As a result, INED researchers were encouraged by their director, Alfred Sauvy, and the head of the institute’s scientific committee, Robert Debré, to research the issue thoroughly, and provide expertise to the High Committee for Study and Information on Alcoholism (HCEIA). Paradoxically, instead of adding scientific credibility to the populationists’ fight against "social plagues," their intervention paved the way for a new approach to alcoholism, centred on the notion of "health risk."