Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

The opinion that Russians' love for alcohol is a tradition rooted in idleness is erroneous. The opinion that Russians' love for alcohol is a tradition rooted in idleness is erroneous, head of the Public Chamber of the Moscow trade and services department Galina Zamytskaya said at the Wednesday meeting of the Chamber.

"People think that alcoholism is a Russian tradition allegedly rooted in unemployment and idleness. Yet it would be wrong to call unemployment the only cause of drinking," she said.

"According to opinion polls, 38% of people drink just because they want to, 26% share a bottle with somebody else, 16% celebrate their salary, and 3.5% celebrate a day off," she said.

"Apart from the moral damage, alcoholism causes huge economic losses, which annually amount to 1.7 trillion rubles. Meanwhile, alcohol excises amount to less than 3% of budgetary revenues," she said.

"Russia ranks fourth amongst countries with the highest rates of alcoholism. Every fifth man in Russia dies of alcoholism-related causes," she said.

The average age of alcoholics in Russia has reduced from 17 to 14 years since the Soviet period.

Alcohol consumption in imperial Russia was three times smaller than it is now, Zamytskaya said. "People consumed about five liters of strong alcohol per capita in 1913 and three times more than that in 2010," she said.