Russians began to drink less – MK

Rosalkogoltabakcontrol announced a decrease in alcohol consumption

Russians began to drink less alcohol compared to 2019. This was stated by the head of the service Igor Aleshin in an interview “Rossiyskaya Gazeta”.

According to him, the department’s data on consumption and legal sales of alcoholic beverages since 2019 indicate that people in the Russian Federation have definitely not started drinking more.

“On the contrary, a gradual decrease in alcohol consumption is recorded. If we really started drinking more, we would see a sharp jump in retail, but this is not the case,” noted Aleshin.

According to him, the slight increase in retail sales, which has been recorded in recent years, is explained by the legalization of the market.

Thus, according to the department, official retail sales of alcohol per capita last year amounted to 6.5 liters, a year earlier – 6.4 liters, and in 2019 – six liters.

In total, in the Russian Federation in 2023, taking into account public catering organizations, 1016.6 million decaliters were sold, in 2022 – 988.5 million decaliters.

The Ministry of Health reported that in 2022, compared to 2019, alcohol consumption decreased by 0.44 liters – to 8.62 liters.

Previously, narcologist, doctor of medical sciences and director of the International Scientific and Practical Center for Narcology of the Moscow Department of Health Anton Masyakin refuted popular myths about the benefits of alcoholic beverages. He said that they often justify alcoholism, but in general they only worsen the negative consequences.