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Alcohol to blame for “disastrous” demographic situation in Belarus, says temperance movement leader

Alcohol abuse is among key factors behind Belarus’ “disastrous” demographic situation, Valyantsin Talkachow, head of the Tsvyarozasts Aptymalist temperance society, told reporters in Minsk on Thursday, as quoted by BelaPAN.

Mr. Talkachow praised Sweden and Norway for their policy toward alcohol sales, saying that people seem to be healthier in the North European countries. “In Sweden, there is one store on the outskirts of a city for a population of 29,000 people and a vodka bottle costs EUR60. Here the situation is absolutely different. We have one store in an easily accessible place for 200 people and one bottle is priced at 7,000 rubels [EUR1.8].”
Mr. Talkachow said that he had recently been on a bike ride around the Minsk region with his associates to discover that “people drink even at the height of the harvesting campaign.”

Alyaksey Alyaksandraw, the country’s chief substance abuse control officer, said that per-capita alcohol sales totaled 12 liters of pure alcohol last year and the consumption dropped by only 0.4 percent year-on-year in the first six months of 2010.

“In other words, every citizen of Belarus, from babies to the elderly, drink 50 bottles of vodka a year,” he said.
Drinking alcohol is a social norm in the country, and few people realize that they suffer from addiction and should apply for assistance, he noted.

Syarhey Vosipchyk, of the National Research and Development Center of Mental Health, said that the actual annual per-capita consumption of alcohol is believed to be 18 to 20 liters in Belarus in accordance with standards of the World Health Organization that takes into consideration sales of illegal alcohol and does not make allowance for children aged under 15 in its calculations.

It its 63rd session held this past May, the World Health Assembly adopted a global alcohol strategy to reduce harmful use of alcohol, Mr. Vosipchyk added.