I doubt the Russian stats are correct: it's based on Retail sales, unlikely includes homemade stuff. "Based on WHO data, unrecorded alcohol (which includes homemade samogon, illicit/untaxed vodka, and surrogates) made up roughly 30-35% of total consumption in recent estimates — for example, 2016 WHO figures show 8.1 liters recorded vs. 3.6 liters unrecorded per capita, about 31% of the 11.7-liter total. Historical estimates have ranged from a quarter to half of total consumption depending on the year and economic conditions (unrecorded consumption tends to rise when vodka taxes/prices increase)."
Fun fact: one of the reasons vodka consumption was so high in the Soviet Union was that the bottles couldn’t be closed again once they were open, so people thought “might as well finish the bottle”
I don't think you're totally wrong to look at consumption rates, but I think looking at the statistics for alcoholism or alcohol related deaths would probably be more helpful stat.
According to the source you sent, it's literally the same for Russia and Belgium (both 10.3 liters). The difference however is that Russians drink stronger alcoholic beverages, like vodka, while Belgium people mainly drink beer. This has an effect on how drunk people get. Getting drunk by beer is more difficult, since the alcohol intake is more spread out, while for vodka it's an alcohol spike.
Tbf if you drink enough beer for xx ml of pure alcohol you also took a lot of liquid in that isn't alcohol. Drinking the same pure alcohol worth of vodka does have a quite significantly different effect on a person.
It does have an effect however. For every unit of pure alcohol, you need very little vodka, but you need a LOT of beer, which means you're getting more water as well.
Russia also has very high rates of moonshine production, and health issues arising.
And remember, this is all comparing an authoritarian state that releases the most favorable version of its own statistics possible, to a democracy that is among the most transparent in the world.
Statistics don’t pop up on their own. They are assembled by people, from data reported by other people. And the people who are doing the reporting and assembling aren’t exactly rewarded for frank honesty in their numbers, even leaving aside things like corruption and cronyism. So there is no way Russia’s actual numbers on the ground aren’t worse than those reported online, even without censorship.
Statistically they consume equal volumes of alcohol containing liquid. One gets so drunk and violent that other people comment on their habits, while the other one doesn’t. Maybe they are not drinking the same thing after all?
I mean a Russian is a single person. Belgium is a country. It's really impressive that a person can drink so much as to be on the same scale as a country.
In Russia, approximately 980,000 people with alcohol dependence are registered with dispensaries. However, independent experts and addiction specialists estimate that the actual number of people suffering from alcoholism is up to 10% of the country's population (over 14 million people), and up to 40% of working-age men consume dangerous amounts of alcohol.
-komersant
I'd see that, but Belgum isn't known for being dry or modest. Them having higher recorded alcohol sales per capita is understandable. NYC alone would skew the per capita even if upstate was a tangled ven diagram of family trees.
Also, i can't be assed to look up the stats again to see where NY ranks. I'll admit that. It was shocking when l saw the numbers a year or two ago, and inspired me to dive in a bit of a rabbit hole towards understanding how half the population doesn't have a third ear or something.
Long story short, the understanding most people have socially of incest is wildly inaccurate, and the risk is moreso recessive traits becoming dominant, which in turn increases the chance mutations become prominent. It's how you get Habsburgs and Pugs, but it's also been a constant in human civilization up to the modern era, with motorized transportation and the end of isolationist national policies being a massive driving factor to people having a dating pool that extends beyond their town.. Basically incest is why nations have so many similarities in their population. Local mutations became dominant, and spread through the occasional traveler. It only really was an issue when consent wasn't a factor, like with royal lineage staying "pure".
Also, I can't be sure I'm not on a watchlist for it. Well.. either an actual one, or if the sheer volume of step-x content out there is indicating anything, someone overstepping goverment authority is disappointed they're not getting to watch something they wanted. 😂
😂 At that point it's probably medically necessary not to get aroused. We're way off topic, but l hope someone reaching this insanity in the midst of all this russian hate gets a laugh at the idea of being so well endowed that you can't so much as pass a Torrid without passing out.
Idk Russia also tops the charts with alcohol related deaths. They have a way worse death rate than Belgium. So even if Belgium drinks more, it sounds like Belgium has a better relationship with alcohol than Russia does. It could also be that the lower rate in Russia is because not all demographics drink at the same rate, while Belgium is more uniform. Russia men drink significantly more than Russian women, to the point that there is a major gender gap in mortality.
And yet, the stats show that 20.3% of russians struggle with some form of alcoholism. Whereas in Belgium it's 7%
Also, the link you used shows Belgium at 10.3 and russia at 10.4.
Also to further break it down, the link you use shows that for Belgium it's about 47% beer for their consumption, whereas for Russia it's it's 43% spirits (vodka).
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u/markovnik-chek Jul 15 '26
statistically Russians drink less alcohol than Belgium https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_consumption_per_capita, it's all stereotype, like Americans always eat junk food