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Russia vodka deaths decline but still ‘high’
Fewer Russian men are dying of vodka consumption since the implementation of hardened alcohol measures in the country, but numbers are still “excessively high”.
Deaths among Russian males under the age of 55 due to vodka consumption has dropped by a third since 2005, but experts say rates are still “excessively high”
A new study has concluded that vodka is a major cause of “premature” male death in Russia after linking consumption research to data showing that 25% of Russian men will die before the age of 55.
In 2005, this figure stood at 37%, with academics attributing later declines to the introduction of tougher alcohol regulations in the country in 2006.
Following these measures, along with the government’s alcohol tax hike and minimum pricing policy, consumption fell by 33% between 2005 and 2009.
Authors of the study, which was carried out of an 11-year period, said: “Since 2005, Russian consumption of spirits and male mortality before age 55 years both decreased by about a third but are still substantial.”
Researchers from the Russian Cancer Centre in Moscow, Oxford University in the UK, and the World Health Organization in France, gathered data from 151,000 people across three Russian cities – Barnaul, Byisk, and Tomsk.
They found that 12,505 men said they drank between one and three half-litres of vodka each week, while 80,000 of the interviewees died over the course of the 11-year period.
The researchers also appealed to previous studies where relatives of people who had died were asked about their loved one’s drinking habits.
Russian adults were found to consume an average of 13 litres of pure alcohol every year, eight litres of which was in spirits.
Meanwhile, UK adults on average consumed 10 litres of pure spirit, but less than two litres was consumed in spirits.
The Spirits Business recently reported that Russia was the world’s largest vodka market, consuming 1.37 billion litres in 2012.
It was revealed in December 2013 that the Russian government intended to rise the minimum price of alcohol again in the next year in a bid to curb the nation’s alcohol consumption.
Findings of this recent study were published in The Lancet.