Contents
I have owned an alcohol supermarket for 2 years now and I am surprised every day by the volume of alcohol consumed by people. There are also regulars in my store who never cease to amaze me with their “stamina”.
I decided to compile some personal statistics and backed it up with official data from the media, Rosstat and other credible sources.
How much do people drink in Russia per year
Such a chart can be compiled according to official WHO statistics. I emphasize that the “never drank” block includes mainly children under 15 years of age. Drinkers in total get about 75 million people.
According to my calculations, for every drinking person there are 10-12 liters of pure alcohol per year. But pure alcohol is a generalized concept. I keep a record of the goods sold, so it was not difficult for me to show the popularity of the most common drinks in this chart:
By the way, while working in the store, I realized that the concept of non-drinking women and men who drink too much is a myth. An ordinary Russian man drinks about 40 liters of pure alcohol a year – that’s about 80 bottles of vodka.
A woman drinks about 120 bottles of wine, which is about 11 liters of pure alcohol. Alcohol is bought by approximately the same number of both women and men, although I admit that women can buy alcohol for their husbands.
Volumes of beer consumption
Beer is always in the lead among the purchased products of my alcohol market. It is taken mainly by boys and adult men up to 65 years old. Among those who buy beer, there are no more than 10% of female representatives, and about 65% of pensioners over 13 years old.
Every year, at least 60 liters of beer fall on one drinking Russian. Thus, more than 1 billion decaliters (1 decaliter = 10 liters) of beer are drunk per year.
In a month, one customer purchases at least 10 bottles of beer in my store. According to the official statistics of Rosstat, at least 2% of the salary of an average Russian drinker goes to the purchase of beer and beer drinks.
Volumes of vodka consumption
Vodka is in second place in popularity. There are 2 bottles of vodka per customer per month in my store, and thus at least 30 liters per year.
I note that with the onset of the pandemic, the demand for vodka only increased: one buyer assured me that this was such a security measure. So, in just 6 months of 2020, more than 5 thousand bottles were sold in my store.
I calculated that if sales go at this pace, then by the end of 2020 I will sell a total of more than 100 decaliters of vodka. Vodka alone will bring a profit of several hundred thousand rubles.
Thus, about 800 decaliters of vodka are consumed throughout the country per year, thus bringing profits to its producers and sellers of over 800 million rubles.
Consumption volumes of other weak drinks
Wine, champagne and alcoholic cocktails belong to the category of weak spirits, their main fans are young girls and women 30-40 years old.
In my store they are bought daily in very large quantities. Demand especially increases during the holidays: 56% of the annual income from the sale of weak alcohol is the share of champagne sold on New Year’s holidays.
In general, no more than 2 bottles of champagne are purchased in my store per year, wine slightly exceeds the figure – about 000 bottles per year. Alcoholic cocktails, although they are famous for their cheapness, are still sold not so often – about 2-800 bottles a year.
In total, about 500 thousand decaliters of weak alcohol are drunk in Russia, worth several hundred million rubles. At the moment, the demand for such drinks is increasing, and probably in 2020 the national income will reach a billion.
I, despite the fact that I sell all these fancy multi-colored cocktails, sincerely hope that they will disappear from the shelves of domestic alcohol stores. When asked for my advice when choosing, I confidently answer that I would not take any of them.
Volumes of consumption of other strong drinks
The most popular strong drink, besides vodka, has always been cognac. Particularly high demand for Georgian and Armenian varieties. Of course, we can only dream about Shustovsky now, but even these species, compared with the ladies’ favorite cocktails, are quite suitable.
Liqueurs are in great demand, I jokingly call this drink “unisex” because it is equally popular among men and women. About 36 million cases are drunk in Russia every year. True, for different liquors and the demand is different:
The popularity of various kinds of hard liquors
The most famous spirits in Russia are rum, whiskey, gin and tequila. Here are the statistics on the popularity of each type:
In total, about 350 million boxes of these four types of alcohol are purchased in Russia every year.
Thus, almost a billion boxes of various alcoholic beverages are drunk annually in Russia. The average customer takes from me 4 cases of beer, 10 bottles of vodka, 4 bottles of wine, a bottle of cognac and a bottle of gin (whiskey, rum or tequila) per year.
I calculated and found out that about a third of the annual income of an ordinary Russian person goes to drinking. In liters, the volume of alcohol consumed per year is close to the volume of a large lake. To be honest, I’m a little shocked.
And this is not counting the alcohol that people produce on their own – moonshine and wine. How much does your family spend on alcohol?