Soviet booze in terms of today's salary: what has risen in price and what has become more affordable

The average salary in the RSFSR for 1981 was taken as a basis - 177.7 rubles. This is a relatively calm and well-fed period of late Soviet life, even without perestroika and anti-alcohol campaign. The current starting point is a fixed salary of 70,000 rubles.

Coefficient: 177.7 divided by 70,000 and get 0.0025386. In simple words, every 100 rubles from today’s wallet corresponds to about 25.4 Soviet kopecks in terms of their share in monthly income. This is not the official exchange rate of the ruble or the calculation of inflation, but an economic model: how much income would a Soviet worker give for a modern bottle from a regular store.

In the USSR, the retail price of alcohol did not add up according to the formula “cost plus margin”. The state strictly regulated pricing, and alcohol was one of the main sources of replenishment of the budget. Through the turnover tax, the treasury received huge amounts - in the mid-80s, these revenues were a significant percentage of GDP. It is impossible to compare the Soviet price tag directly with modern market competition, but it is quite possible to assess availability.

And another nuance: the famous 37 kopecks for a bottle of Zhigulevsky included 12 kopecks of pledge for glass. If the containers were returned, clean beer was cheaper. The statistics also included the average retail price of the drink. For beer in 1981, it is about 48 kopecks per liter, that is, about 24 kopecks per half liter.

If you take a modern bottle of Zhigulevsky 0.5 liters for 104.99 rubles and multiply by the coefficient, you get about 27 kopecks. “Baltika No. 3” for 84.90 rubles pulls 22 kopecks. The average Soviet half-liter of beer cost 22 cents. It turns out that ordinary mass beer today is almost at the same level as it was 45 years ago.

In 1981, a bottle of 0.5 liters of vodka cost about 5.30 rubles - for a salary of 177 rubles, the purchase is very tangible. Today, half a liter of Five Lakes for 469.99 rubles, according to our formula, turn into only 1 ruble 19 kopecks. More premium “Russian Standard” for 569 rubles pulls 1.44 rubles. The contrast is colossal: modern vodka in the mass segment has become almost three and a half times more affordable than average vodka in the late USSR.

The average Soviet bottle of 0.75 liters of wine cost about 1.90 rubles. Today, the Fanagoria NR for 449.99 rubles in our model costs 1.14 rubles, and the Georgian Kindzmarauli for 1260 rubles is already 3.20 rubles. The logic persists: basic domestic wine has become more affordable, and imported vintage remains a product of a higher segment.

The most noticeable difference is on cognac. In 1981, a bottle of 0.5 liters cost 9 rubles - an expensive, status drink that was not bought just for dinner. Today, a three-year "Kinovsky" for 779 rubles in terms of cost only 1 ruble 98 kopecks. According to this model, modern mass cognac takes a much smaller share from wages than Soviet cognac.

With a sparkling situation similar: "Soviet Champagne" at the average price of 1980 cost 3.60 rubles for 0.75 liters, and a modern bottle with the same name for 349 rubles in terms of gives only 89 kopecks.

It is pointless to look for the Soviet average price for whiskey or rum - they were not sold en masse in ordinary deli. But if you count a bottle of William Lawson's for 999 rubles, we get 2.54 Soviet rubles. This suggests that today, even basic imported strong alcohol costs a buyer with a regular salary easier than half a liter of Soviet cognac in 1980.

The main conclusion lies not in the plane of “before it was better” or “now everything is cheaper”. The model shows how much the availability of alcohol for a person on a regular salary has changed. Beer exhibits a rare economic constancy: it has held a modest share of income and continues to hold. But strong drinks have moved into a completely different category of availability – vodka and cognac from products that require tangible spending, turned into the most affordable commodity of everyday demand.

When we think of Soviet price tags, we usually compare nominal figures. But it is worth counting them in terms of labor costs and share in the salary, as a familiar story is revealed from a completely different side.