Domestic experts surprised: in Russia, reduced consumption of alcohol! Moreover, the Russians seem to have fallen out of love with spirits. What it is: a global reversal in our preferences or quirks of statistics? To Understand “Light”.Cyril Gorankudasai published by researchers of the HSE in the respected scientific journal International Journal of Drug Policy, destroy the myth that drinking in our country. Judge for yourself: here are the numbers who listed in the study, from 2005 to 2016 the consumption of alcohol by Russians has dropped from 18.7 to 11.7 litres of pure alcohol per adult population. Sober! But more interesting to look at what scientists call the “structure of consumption”. But the share of wine increased from 5.8 to 20.3 percent of beer — from 12.8 to 43.3! What is this if not “quiet” revolution? Average Russians now account for 9 litres of legal alcohol per year and 6 liters of unregistered — and this is, in fact, is the main drama of the moment.For clarification, we turned to one of the study’s authors — Professor, Department of applied Economics, HSE Marina Kolosnitsyna. Kolosnitsyna for more than 10 years engaged in the study of various aspects of the health of Russians from the point of view of Economics and sociology. In the current work she is co-author relied on the data of Rosstat, as well as on the results of sociological surveys. Are we really began to drink less?— It shows all the data we have, and we rely on official statistics, not only across the country but also by region,— said the expert.— The statistics are now well going through USAIS (information system designed for the control of alcoholic beverages.— “On”). We also have a wide range of population surveys, when respondents are asked whether they drink alcohol in principle, did it for the last 30 days, what was used, and so on. That is, data obtained from multiple sources. So the reduction is really noticeable, though in different regions it goes at a different pace.First, the reasons behind it. Marina Kolosnitsyna notes: in recent years, the government increased the minimum price and excise taxes on alcohol, imposed restrictions on its sale in the evening and at night — all this immediately had a positive impact on the consumption statistics. In one of his previous works, the researchers even found a link between the number of accidents and levels of crime and sale of alcohol. Dependence is simple: the more restrictions, the safer getting around.— But there is, for example, and the generational effects, they first identified my colleagues Vadim Radaev and Yana Roshchina,— the expert continues.— The point is that each generation we drink less than the generation of parents. As part of the adult population enteringt new generation, the decline in alcohol consumption there.Most dramatic, however, in another; experts point out that in your article. The fact is that reduced consumption of legal alcohol goes along with increased consumption illegal. It is necessary to explain: in General, consumption is still declining, the trend is clear. However, the problem of illegal alcohol remains sharp. Why?— All over the world have always struggled with alcohol. But what to fight it? It’s a chemical compound, — said Mikhail Smirnov, chief editor of the portal “Alcohol.Ru” and expert on alcoholic market.— As soon as the state starts to raise prices, to reduce the number of points of sale, production and consumption go into the shadows, in the underground market. Gorbachev-lihachevsky reform of the 1980s led to the fact that the number of stores has decreased, alcohol has become less, but then developed black manufacturing, came the famous taxi drivers, which you can always buy a bottle. The situation today is certainly better, but the problem remained: 40 percent of alcohol sold in the Russian underground production.According to Smirnov, the question itself is wrong: we need to think not about how to remove alcohol from the shelves, and on how to convince people not to drink at all, or at least drink properly.— Each drink has its own technology consumption,— the expert reminds.— Who today remembers why the portion of vodka should be 25 grams? But the thing is that this is a physiological reflex gulp from about 18 to 20 grams. Not 200 grams, as in the faceted glass. Twenty! Before the revolution, the urban population skillfully to drink. Vodka drinking glasses, a good snack, slowly. Know about wine. But the peasants, on the contrary, drink is not able, they are taught that no one. Why the labour movement has to drink? Because it consisted of former peasants, they started making money, could afford vodka and you go to… My position is simple: you need to drink to be able to. Alcohol has been with mankind always, from it can not escape, so the problem of alcoholism can be solved only one way — the development of a culture of consumption. Everything else is half-measures.And here’s another relevant question: how does alcohol consumption impact crises like the current — coronavirus? At first glance, the stress needs to drink more intoxicating. However, demand for alcohol in Russia fell by 15 percent compared to the same period last year (such statistics leads the operator’s fiscal data “Taxco”). In retail, falling by 13 percent, in catering and at 55. Most interestingly, dipped champagne — as much as 30 percent. The Russians, for obvious reasons, it was not till after the holidays. Market experts blame what is happening not only solvency of the population, which��Aya fell sharply, but the same black market — say, those who tried the brew, then to the legal production have not returned… However, as it turns out, the dependence is still more complicated.— Of course, there is a replacement. This is a normal economic process: as soon as one product becomes more expensive, the consumer is seeking to replace its analogue is cheaper,— says Marina Kolosnitsyna.— However, in this equation, and many other variables. We, for example, has documented regional differences. Where the population is richer — more drinking legal alcohol, where poorer — more illegally. The first one we have ranged from 1.1 to 17.8 liters, the second — from zero to 21 liters of pure alcohol per adult in years and regions. What else affects the volume of consumption? The share of the working age population. Or, for example, the proportion urban. Contrary to stereotypes, when they say that they drink more in the village, in fact it is not. We have more drink in the city. And here, say, climate (we have made our equation average temperatures of January), oddly enough, turned out to be a fairly minor factor and does not affect the overall picture. But surely we can say the following: where more drink hard, drink more and generally. From this relationship can’t go anywhere.
