Strong alcoholic beverages sales declined by 40 percent in Russia in last five years

UFA, 9 June 2017. /Bashinform News Agency, Alim Faizov/. According to Rospotrebnadzor, the greatest amount of all alcoholic drinks in Russia is consumed in the Magadan region. The indicator of consumption last year there was more than 14 liters of pure alcohol per capita. Among the most drinking regions were also Moscow, the Sakhalin region and the Komi Republic - the figure exceeded 13 liters there. The Moscow region was a champion in consumption of beer - more than 90 liters per year for each resident. The minimum sales of vodka and beer were recorded in Ingushetia and Chechnya, Izvestiya newspaper reported.

It follows from the Rospotrebnadzor’s report "Influence of alcohol consumption and tobacco smoking on public health" for the last year that over the past five years, sales of strong alcoholic beverages have decreased by 40 percent in Russia. According to Rosstat, in 2011 the sales of vodka and alcoholic beverages amounted to almost 1.51 billion liters, and in 2016 it were sold 930 million liters. At the same time, the national average consumption per capita in terms of ethanol fell over the five years from 10.9 to 6.6 liters.

The Rospotrebnadzor’s document emphasizes that there has been a steady decline in sales of beer to the public. In 2016, beer sales amounted to 53.3 liters per person on average in the country, and in 2011 this figure was 70.8 liters. Thus, the reduction was almost 25 percent.

The Rospotrebnadzor representatives stress that a set of factors affected the decline in sales - prohibitive measures and state excise policy. The most significant impact was provided by the norms of the law "On state regulation of production and turnover of ethyl alcohol ...", which began to operate since the end of 2012, - restriction of time and places of alcohol sales.