VTsIOM counted 38% of non-drinkers in the country

A quarter of Russians say they drink alcohol less than once a month. 14% of respondents consume alcohol every month. As a rule, these are young people under 24 years old. 18% say they can drink several times a month. Mostly these are Russians aged 25 to 44, the survey showed. Every day or several times a week, 1% and 4% of survey participants drink alcohol, respectively.

Russians drink beer every week or several times a month. Russians drink strong alcoholic drinks less than once a month, as well as wines, including sparkling ones. Alcoholic cocktails turned out to be not a popular product among Russians - 91% of survey participants stated that they did not drink them at all.

Among the main reasons for refusing alcoholic beverages, Russians call their detrimental effect on the human body. This is the opinion of 81% of the respondents. It is noteworthy that three years ago only half of the survey participants held this opinion. The number of Russians who believe that alcohol in small doses will not cause significant harm to health has also decreased over the past three years. If in 2018 39% of survey participants held this opinion, now only 15% of respondents think so.

The Russians called wine the most harmless alcoholic drink. This is the opinion of 39% of the survey participants. Another 14% and 12% believe that beer and vodka are relatively safe. The share of Russians who consider cognac safe to drink has decreased in three years from 13% to 8%, and the number of those who consider homemade wine and liqueurs harmless has decreased from 11% to 4%.

Recall that during the coronavirus pandemic, sales of alcoholic beverages increased significantly. With the introduction of self-isolation, Russians first began celebrating long weekends and then drinking out of grief over job loss or declining income. However, the trend towards an increase in sales of alcoholic beverages in 2021 did not persist. Sales growth was noted only for champagne.