Gym, then tea!
Russia's health minister has said that Russians consume 80 percent less alcohol than they did five years ago, amid a decrease in smoking levels and an increase in the number of people who do sports. The latest World Health Organization figures
put Russia's alcohol consumption below that of France and Germany.
"We have managed to reduce the consumption of alcoholic beverages per capita by 80 percent [in 5 years]," the Kommersant business daily
cited Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova as saying Tuesday.
Official statistics show average alcohol consumption in Russia
plummeting by a third between 2009 and 2016. Consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor
credits new minimum price laws, advertising bans and sales restrictions for the drop.
Some 40 percent more Russians have become involved in sports over the same period, Skvortsova was cited as saying at a business lunch ahead of the annual Gaidar Forum.
Smoking has also gone down in Russia over the past five years, with 22 percent fewer adults taking part in the habit and a threefold decrease in smoking among minors, she added.
"Looking back at the past 5-7 years, we managed to partially overcome bad habits like smoking thanks to a progressive law against tobacco smoking," Russia's chief health official said.
Comment: AFP reports that the most recent WHO figures show Russian adults drink an average of 12.2 litres of pure alcohol a year which is nearly a 20 percent decrease from 2012,
putting it behind both France (13.3 litres) and Germany (13.4). The WHO's representative in Russia points to government measures taken over the past 13 years to combat a public health crisis, including a ban on shops selling any alcohol after 11 pm, increases in the minimum retail price of spirits, and an advertising blackout.
My gawd, take me my whole adult life and next incarnation or two to get even close.