Nightlife
MOSCOW. (Vlad Grinkevich, RIA Novosti economic...
combat drinking and alcoholism. Legal alcohol sales dropped 60% in two years, while illegal substances were not mass-produced. The death rate decreased, too. What"s more, the anti-alcohol campaign prompted the last baby boom in the Soviet Union, sending the birth rate up 9.2%. Incidentally, the current increase in births in Russia is a direct effect of that last Soviet baby boom, as the children born during those years are having their own children now.These days, government officials make very convincing speeches on how alcohol abuse harms society. The new government Concept contains the sad statistics: alcohol consumption has nearly doubled over the past two decades, to 10 liters per capita a year in 2008 (including illegal products and home-made alcohol this figure reaches 18 liters). Over 23,000 people die annually of alcohol poisoning, and 75,000 of health disorders caused by alcohol. Alcoholism tops the list of reasons for the current decline in the population.