Russia Is The Fourth Most Drinking Country

Russia is the fourth most drinking country

They drink the most in Lithuania - 16 liters of pure ethanol per year. Belarus is in second place, Latvia is in third. The fourth place is shared by old rivals - Russia and Poland, here for each inhabitant there are 12 liters of pure alcohol per year.

Gouden Galea, director of the WHO European Office for Noncommunicable Diseases and Health Promotion at all stages of life, spoke in Vilnius on Tuesday and named the most drinking countries. It turned out that they drink most of all in Lithuania - 16 liters of pure ethanol per year. Belarus is in second place, Latvia is in third. The fourth place is shared by old rivals - Russia and Poland, here for each inhabitant there are 12 liters of pure alcohol per year. Only 30 bottles of vodka each, counting men and women, infants and old people, minors, teetotalers, etc.

Further questions arise. Firstly, this is not an official WHO report, it is, in general, the opinion of one official of the organization, albeit a very informed one. Secondly, these data are categorically at variance with the data of the Ministry of Health published this spring.

The report of the Russian Ministry of Health "On the results of the work of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation in 2016 and tasks for 2017" stated that in the reporting period, Russians began to drink 0.2 liters less alcohol - up to 10.3 liters per person per year.

Moreover, this is a steady decline, which went on for several years: Izvestia, referring to the Ministry of Health, writes that “in 2013 the volume of alcohol consumption was 11.87 liters per capita, in 2014 - 11.78 liters”.

The ministry presented an incredibly optimistic report at that time, especially with regard to bad habits and social non-communicable diseases.

In 2016, the number of initial visits with this problem decreased by 36%, and the number of alcohol addicts registered in hospitals decreased by 24%.

However, some experts have questions about the statistics of the Ministry of Health. According to Mikhail Smirnov, editor-in-chief of the Alkogol.ru website, the Ministry of Health in its statistics takes into account only the sale of legal alcohol, which is very easy to control through the Unified State Automated Information System and excise stamps. At the same time, the share of illegal alcohol (moonshine and non-food alcohol - pharmaceutical tinctures, confectionery alcohols and cosmetic lotions - in Russian consumption is very high. Nobody knows how much exactly, they say about 25% and even about 50%).