bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

Russia might still have a reputation as a nation of hard drinkers, but a report by the World Health Organisation published on Tuesday showed their alcohol consumption has dropped by more than 40 per cent from its peak in the early 2000s.
The WHO put the decrease down to a raft of measures brought in since sport-loving President Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000, including restrictions on alcohol sales and the promotion of healthy lifestyles.
“The Russian Federation has long been considered one of the heaviest-drinking countries in the world,” the report said, adding that alcohol was a major contributor to a spike in deaths in the 1990s.
“However, in recent years these trends have been reversed.”

The study showed a 43 per cent drop in alcohol consumption per capita from 2003 to 2016, driven by a steep decline in the consumption of bootleg booze.
The authors said this trend was a factor in increased life expectancies, which reached a historic peak in 2018, at 78 years for women and 68 years for men. In the turbulent early 1990s, male life expectancy was just 57.
Under Putin, Russia has introduced measures including a ban on shops selling any alcohol after 11pm, increases in the minimum retail price of spirits and an advertising blackout.
In a central Moscow bar that specialises in beer, drinkers said they thought people were cutting down partly because of the restrictions, particularly on late-night alcohol sales in shops, but also due to changing lifestyles.

“We drink less, at least some of us,” said Alexander Sukhontsov, a 28-year-old bank employee, adding that people’s busy schedules mean they “just don’t have the time”.
“People have changed their approach to drinking,” said Roman Pechnikov, a 38-year-old computer scientist.
“Bars have become more civilised, and people do not drink until the end of the night,” he said
Last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was so concerned at habitual drinking among workers that he led a massively unpopular anti-alcohol campaign with partial prohibition, which brought down consumption from the mid-1980s until 1990.

But after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, alcohol consumption exploded, continuing to rise until the start of the 2000s. President Boris Yeltsin was also notorious for embarrassing public incidents that appeared to be alcohol-fuelled.
By contrast, Putin is almost never seen drinking in public, although he is not teetotal and this month raised a glass of vodka while visiting the North Caucasus.
Earlier WHO figures showed Russian adults now drink less alcohol on average than their French and German counterparts.
Moscow has also launched a drive against smoking, last week announcing a ban on lighting up even on private balconies.
Tobacco use plummeted by more than one-fifth between 2009 and 2016, down to 30 per cent of Russians smoking according to the most recent Global Adult Tobacco Survey.


Under Trump 2.0, what happens to nuclear arms control?

New Russian missile fired at Ukraine carried warheads without explosives: sources

Trump team weighing direct talks with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, insiders say

Russia expels British diplomat amid espionage accusations and Ukraine conflict tensions

Russia

Hard-drinking Russians are giving up the booze, says WHO

A man drinks a beer in an outdoor pub in Moscow. Photo: AFP

MOS01:RUSSIA:MOSCOW,28DEC96 - Two policemen examine a bottle of Russian-made vodka during an inspection at a street kiosk in central Moscow, December 28. President Boris Yeltsin had decided to tighten government controls over the production and sale of alcohol in order to plug a gaping hole in state revenues. The government planned to tighten regulation of Russia's vodka industry and ensure that producers, traders and importers paid the required taxes and duties. Smugglers, bootleggers and moonshiners are estimated to be cheating the state of about two trillion roubles ($350 million) a month. kyl/Photo by Yuri Tutov REUTERS

Two Russian young girls drink a beer at the Manezhnaya Square, in Moscow, 05 August 2004. Russia's parliament approved a law banning beer advertising in stadia and on team shirts and television in a move that bows to Kremlin wishes but threatens to leave clubs short on cash. The parliamentary amendments ban television advertisements, scuttling plans for soccer, ice hockey and other popular Russian clubs from using alcohol sponsors for their team. AFP PHOTO / DENIS SINYAKOV

A shop assistant lines up bottles of vodka on a shelf in a grocery store in Moscow, Thursday, February 10, 2000. The minimun price of vodka will rise by at least 32 percent by the end of February because of new tax rates. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)

Why do millennials love Instagramable drinks like rosé, spritzers and White Claw with low alcohol content?

Millennials are all about health, which means drinks with less alcohol and fewer carbs. Photo: Instagram/min_noor

Suicide kills one person every 40 seconds, World Health Organisation says

A symbol of the World Health Organisation at its headquarters in Geneva. Photo: AFP

File - In this Aug. 26, 2019, file photo, Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District biologist Nadja Reissen examines a mosquito in Salt Lake City. The potentially fatal West Nile Virus is popping up more around the U.S. Southwest following a rainier winter. There are a record number of cases in Maricopa County and nine deaths for the entire state of Arizona so far this year. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

All eyes on Moscow as Russians go to polls after biggest protests in years

A woman holds her dog and a ballot at a polling station in Moscow on Sunday. Photo: AP

epaselect epa07827386 Russian opposition candidate Alexei Navalny reacts after voting in the Moscow City Duma elections in Moscow, Russia, 08 September 2019. The Moscow municipal elections have been dogged by controversy after several opposition candidates were barred from standing in the city elections. EPA-EFE/YURI KOCHETKOV

epa07827339 Russian President Vladimir Putin casts his vote at a polling station during Moscow city Duma elections in Moscow, Russia, 08 September 2019. Russians go to polling stations to vote in various regional and municipal elections. EPA-EFE/ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/ SPUTNIK / KREMLIN POOL

Gout explained: why it is no longer a disease of the decadent West, its symptoms, and foods and drinks to avoid

A depiction from 1799 of the great agony induced by gout by caricaturist James Gillray. Image: Alamy

E0CGAK Gout, drawing

Dr Doug Tumen.Photo: Handout[FEATURES 2019]

Sophia Kamveris

ARCPTE The swollen foot of a patient with gout, also known as uric acid arthropathy

F85365 A swollen left foot with gout.

News

World

Russia & Central Asia


The UN health body put the decrease down to a raft of measures brought in by President Vladimir Putin, including restrictions on alcohol sales
Alcohol consumption per capita dropped 43 per cent from 2003 to 2016, driven by a steep decline in the consumption of bootleg booze



The UN health body put the decrease down to a raft of measures brought in by sport-loving President Vladimir Putin, including restrictions on alcohol sales.


Wellness

World Health Organization (WHO)

Vladimir Putin

Hard-drinking Russians are giving up the booze, says WHO

The UN health body put the decrease down to a raft of measures brought in by President Vladimir Putin, including restrictions on alcohol sales Alcohol consumption per capita dropped 43 per cent from 2003 to 2016, driven by a steep decline in the consumption of bootleg booze

The UN health body put the decrease down to a raft of measures brought in by President Vladimir Putin, including restrictions on alcohol sales

Alcohol consumption per capita dropped 43 per cent from 2003 to 2016, driven by a steep decline in the consumption of bootleg booze