More Russians drank alcohol so far this year than they did in 2018, a survey by the state-funded VTsIOM agency has said.
Sixty-seven percent of respondents said they had consumed alcohol between several times a week and less than once a month in 2019, the pollster said Thursday.
Last year’s results said 57 percent of Russian respondents drank alcohol at the same frequency.
Those who said they don’t drink at all decreased from 40 percent in 2018 to 33 percent this year.
Meanwhile, alcohol consumption between 2011 and 2018 nearly halved from 18 liters per capita to 9.3 liters per capita, Russia’s health minister said last month.
Sales figures published over the weekend said that demand for beer has spiked in the past year. Demand for wine, whiskey and cognac has fallen in what the researchers attributed to Russians’ adjustment to rising prices.
VTsIOM conducted the survey among 1,600 Russian respondents on Tuesday.
