In 2025, drunkenness cost Russia almost 1.5 trillion rubles

This is almost 0.7% of the country's GDP. Such data were given by Professor of Sechenov University Andrei Kulikov, referring to the results of a large-scale study.

The direct costs of the health care system for the treatment of alcoholic diseases amounted to 85 billion rubles. For comparison, in 2017, similar costs exceeded 130 billion, but then scientists took into account a wider range of diseases and more patients.

But the real extent of the problem lies in indirect costs. They reached 1.399 trillion rubles. More than 95% of this amount is accounted for by the loss of GDP due to premature deaths of working-age people and reduced productivity. This includes the costs of maintaining children whose parents have died or been deprived of their rights due to alcoholism, as well as the costs of prisons and medical sobering-up units.

It is interesting that the total consumption of alcohol in Russia is steadily declining: if in 2008 per capita there were 15.7 liters, then in 2025 there are already 8.06 liters. However, experts note a worrying trend: there are fewer people who drink alcohol, but those who continue to drink do so much more often and in large quantities.

This is a characteristic feature of the so-called “northern model” of consumption – episodic heavy drinking. According to Rosstat for 2024, 54.4% of the population over 15 years old drink alcohol, but almost 5% drink several times a week.

Experts believe that in order to consolidate the positive dynamics of Russia, it is necessary to move from the northern model to the southern one: alcohol is consumed moderately, during meals and in companies, where the main thing is communication, not the amount of alcohol consumed. This could contribute to education about the culture of moderate consumption and new leisure formats, where joint impressions, not alcohol, come to the fore.