Alcohol sales in Russia

Beer retail sales in July-September 2025 decreased by 17.9% year-on-year, and in the first nine months of the year - by 16.9%. The collapse in demand is explained by the cold summer and rising prices, as beer in Russia has risen in price by 17.5% over the year. However, a decrease in sales is recorded in almost all key alcohol categories, including wines and vodka.

The volume of retail sales of beer in the third quarter amounted to 171.3 million decaliters, a decrease of 17.9% year-on-year, follows from the data of the Federal Service for Alcohol and Tobacco Control (RATK). In January-September, the decrease was 16.9%, to 462.36 million decaliters. There is a negative trend in related categories as well. Sales of beer beverages in the first nine months of the year lost 5.9% year-on-year, to 73.24 million decaliters. In the segment of cider, poire and mead in January-September, there was an increase of 1.3%, to 8.74 million decaliters. But in the third quarter, the decrease reached 11.4%, to 3.08 million decaliters. In many ways, the factor in the decline was a change in the structure of consumption, according to the RATK.

In 2023, Russia had the second highest alcoholism rate in the world as far as it being a problem with the two genders recognized in most conservative countries. In addition, in 2023 Russia had the highest alcoholism rate for males. In 2019, it was reported that 500,000 people per year were dying due to alcohol in Russia.

• Alcohol consumption rate in Russia between 2009 and 2021, by frequency of intake

Alcohol sales in Russia increased for the first time in 10 years in 2023

Alcoholism in Russia has increased for the first time in 10 years, Russia’s business news daily Kommersant reported citing data from the state statistics agency Rosstat.

On January, 15, 2024, Newsweek reported:

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Russian newspaper Kommersant cited Rosstat's figures from its "Healthcare in Russia-2023" handbook, which was published in December. It showed that in 2022—the year Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began — 54,200 patients were diagnosed with alcohol dependence, of whom 12,900 were diagnosed with alcohol psychosis (a condition accompanied by hallucinations, delusions, mood swings, outbursts of violence or aggression and other symptoms). Levels had been consistently dropping for a decade, between 2010 and 2021, from 153,900 to 53,300 people, but they are now back on the rise as of 2022, the statistics show.

”

Academic journal articles

• Soviet and Russian Statistics on Alcohol Consumption and Abuse, PubMed
• Alcohol mortality in Russia: assessment with representative survey data, Population and economics

Alcoholism in Russia and the war in Ukraine

• Putin’s ‘stressed’ administration staff start each day with bottle of vodka: report, NY Post, 2023
• Putin's administration staff 'are starting the day with a bottle of vodka and Security Council's Dmitry Medvedev is often drunk when he writes his apocalyptic threats of nuclear war', Daily Mail, June 2023

Russia soldiers, alcoholism and the war in Ukraine

• Russian troops are battling high and drunk: It’s nothing new, The Hill, July 2023

In 2023, Business Insider reported: "Russia lost the first Crimean War because of widespread alcoholism. Drinking is killing their troops in Ukraine, too, intel shows."

‘Psychological tension’ driving alcoholic drink demand in Russia

• ‘Psychological tension’ driving alcoholic drink demand in Russia, The Drinks Business, July 2024