#5 - JRL 2009-142 - JRL Home
Number of Russians drinking alcohol not changing significantly - poll
MOSCOW. July 29 (Interfax) - The number of Russians drinking
alcohol has not changed significantly over the past 13 years, and the
number of those drinking alcohol every week has grown, especially in
small towns and among young people, a poll conducted by the VTsIOM
public opinion survey center found.
The number of Russians drinking alcohol more or less regularly has
gone down to 74% from 77% in 1996, the poll shows.
The number of those drinking alcohol several times a week has
increased to 8% from 5% in 1996, and this figure is especially high in
small towns (44%) and among 18-24-year-old respondents (12%).
The poll, which was conducted in 140 communities in 42 regions of
Russia, showed that 23% drink alcohol two or three times a month, 18%
once a month, ad 25% less frequently than once a month. About 24% of
Russians do not drink alcohol at all, and the number of such is higher
in large and medium-sized cities (26% and 27% respectively) and among
those older than 60 (47%).
The poll also showed that 45% of men and 18% of women drink at
least several times a month, while 31% of women and 18% of men said they
drink less than once a month. The number of non-drinking respondents is
roughly twice higher among women than among men - 31% against 16%
respectively.
Compared to 2005, the number of Russians supporting the need for
and efficiency of an anti-alcoholism campaign similar to the Perestroika
times has dropped to 8% from 15%.
What is noteworthy is that the number of those finding such a
campaign efficient is twice as high among respondents not drinking
alcohol than among those drinking alcohol (12% and 6% respectively),
while the latter are more inclined to consider it a mistake from the
very start (35% against 27% of the non-drinking respondents).
Although Russians, as before, are inclined to think that, compared
to the Gorbachev era, their compatriots drink more now, the number of
respondents who hold this view has dropped to 55% from 61% in 2005.
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