Russians’ consumption of alcohol has tripled since the fall of the Soviet Union, with the average person now knocking back the equivalent of 34 litres of vodka a year, new figures show.
In a frank and at times morbid report, Russia’s chief medical officer, Gennadi Onishenko, on Wednesday admitted that the nation had a serious alcohol problem.
According to the figures for 2005, Russia has about 2 348 567 registered alcoholics. As well as polishing off the vodka and beer, Russians also down quantities of dubious substitutes, such as perfume and home-made vodka, Onishenko said. The figures provoked a gloomy inquisition on Wednesday in the press. Isvestiya ran a front-page photograph of an attractive bride sitting on a bench next to a comatose drunk — a frequent sight in Russian parks, doorways and Metro stations. The paper’s headline read: ”Drinking Russian style — 34 litres of vodka a year.”
Alexsander Nemtsov, an alcohol expert at Moscow’s psychiatric research institute, told Isvestiya: ”Every third death in this country is the direct or indirect result of alcohol consumption.”
In Russia alcohol is being linked to 72% of murders, 42% of suicides and 52,6% of traumatic accidents. The WHO rates the country as one of the most alcoholic in the world. Each year Russia loses 500 000 to 750 000 people through alcohol, to huge economic social and cultural cost, Nemtsov said.
Alexey Christyakov, a leading narcologist at Moscow’s Alco-Med Centre, said: ”The main cause of alcoholism is that over the last 16 years Russia has gone through a revolution … many people have seen the foundations of their lives disappear. They haven’t been able to find a new one.” – Guardian Unlimited Â