Russian Alcohol Consumption Almost Halved Since 2003

Russian alcohol consumption is rapidly declining. (Kremlin)

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on October 1 that Russian alcohol consumption has decreased by 43 percent from 2003-2016. This shift has significantly increased life expectancy in Russia and improved the general health of its citizens.

Russia currently ranks fourth in the world for alcohol consumption per capita, right behind its neighbors Belarus, Moldova, and Lithuania. As a result, the WHO estimated in 2013 that one in five Russian men die of alcohol related causes or incidents. 

According to a Forbes correspondent who traveled to Russia during the country’s transition from the Soviet Union to the Russian Federation in the early 2000s, the turmoil of the regime change caused high stress among Russians, leading to a spike in alcoholism in the country. In response, the state enacted several laws to discourage excessive alcohol consumption.

In 2003, the Russian government passed legislation that gradually increased the price of alcohol over the years, developed a real-time tracking system for the production and sale of alcohol, and put restrictions on night-time alcohol sales. The WHO lauded this action as an “evidence-based policy.” The most recent anti-alcohol campaign included prohibitions on public drinking, stricter alcohol licensing, and tighter restrictions on where and when alcohol can be sold.

The result is a drop in general mortality by 39 percent for men and 36 percent for women. In addition, Russian life expectancy reached 68 years for men and 78 years for women in 2018, an all-time high.

Although it is impossible to prove direct causation, many scholars have concluded that the reduction in alcohol consumption is undoubtedly related to the longer life expectancies. "Trends in estimated total alcohol consumption and official alcohol sales strongly correspond with the observed shifts of mortality," write scholars Alexander Nemtsov, Maria Neufeld, Jürgen Rehm in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

This is not the first time Russia has acted to curb alcohol consumption. In a previous attempt in 1988, Mikhail Gorbachev restricted the sale of alcohol in what was known as the “dry law.” This effort backfired: while alcohol sales dropped, sugar sales – a key ingredient in counterfeit alcohol – soared.

The current effort to reduce alcohol consumption is part of a broader plan by the Russian government to combat the population decline occurring in Russia.