Alcohol

Ask most people to name things associated with Russia then vodka and/ or alcohol are going to be high up on that list. This isn’t helped by those who remember Boris Yeltsin ‘leading by example’ as president, which included him standing outside the White House in his underwear trying to hail a cab to go for a pizza! So, I thought I’d take a look at whether this stereotype was fair or not.

refreshing...

To put this all in context, the guidelines recommend not regularly drinking more than 2-3 units of alcohol a day for women and 3-4 for men. Units are 10ml of pure alcohol.

According to the World Health Organisation’s 2014 report, 9 of world’s top 10 alcohol consumers are in Eastern Europe, half being former Soviet republics. Russia came fourth, drinking 15.1 litres of pure alcohol annually compared to the UK’s 11.6 litres. Assuming a consistent consumption, Russia exceeds advice while the UK doesn’t, that 4.5-litre difference being just under 3 pints of strong lager a week.

Six beers: the difference between Russians and Brits over a fortnight

The stats, though, are much scarier for men when you look at the gender divide. Women don’t exceed recommendations in either country but men do. British men drink 16.5 litres yearly and Russians 23.9 (31.7 and 46 units weekly).

drinking at home from a man's perspective

However, the Brits are far worse for binge drinking. British women are twice as likely to binge drink as Russians on average, (20.9% and 10.3% doing so in the last 30 days). Russian men are also twice as likely to abuse alcohol or be addicted than their British counterparts. As a whole, alcohol results in Russians being more likely to die younger, die of liver cirrhosis and die in a car crash.

Interestingly though, while Britain has more ‘lifetime abstainers’, Russia has double the rate of people giving up in the last year and almost 20 times as many former drinkers overall.

The stats also bear out my observations that Russians drink far more spirits (double the amount) and a similar quantity of beer. In my experience, you see evidence of alcohol abuse in both countries; people drinking a can of beer while waiting for a bus in the morning is not unknown in Russia and just go down town on a Friday or Saturday night in the UK (or count the number of pavement pizzas the following morning). Those weekend binges in the UK lead to more trouble with the law in the UK and I think that also boils down to how people drink. In the UK, people might have a drink with a meal but they don’t eat or snack when they’ve gone drinking, except the kebab after. Russians do, which means they get less aggressively drunk. They even have a soup, solyanka, which is made to ‘line the stomach’ to nullify the effects. Russians also have a greater tendency to propose toasts and, with spirits often being the beverage of preference, that soon adds up to stupidity like dancing with a chair or dragging a huge pot plant to form a centre piece on the dance floor (comic genius was the staff putting the plant back while the dancer had his back turned). But it is usually that... fun and stupidity.

Olga, about to dance

I soon learnt that it’s hard to match Russians drink for drink, it’s impossible with Moldovans and savvier drinkers top up their shot glasses with water when they think no one’s looking in order to pace themselves.

Beer, vodka and food at a Russian café

Ultimately, the hips stats don’t lie and both nations should look at the quantity and methods of alcohol consumption. It’s linked to anti-social behaviour and is a factor is many serious diseases. Not to end on too depressing a note, it can of course be enjoyed in moderation, cheers, and here’s a Russian joke to finish...

Two alcoholics have been sitting in silence with a shot of vodka each for the last half hour. A dog walks past. One says, “To Fido.” “To Fido” and they clink glasses and down the shots.