[traumer]

and what's wrong with that? It's their national custom.

[Agnes Heep]

... the volume of pure alcohol consumed by the average Russian every year had jumped by more than half, to 8.3 litres from 5.3 ....

The most recent statistics I've seen show U.S. consumption of all forms of ethanol at around 9.2 liters. What that is in litres I can't say, but I think it's close.

[Lawgvr1955]

If I lived in Russia, I would have vodka for breakfast too!!

[EggsAckley]

If you don't drink, you look suspicious

I was in the Soviet Union in 1988, and boy was that statement true! At dinner they kept filling up the shot glasses, and kept checking to make sure we drank them. I finally resorted to furtively pouring mine into the floral centerpiece.

Then when Gorby cut back on the availability of vodka, the "grannies" started making their own. That's when Gorby started rationing sugar, which put Castro in a heap of hurt.

[jordan8]

Alcohol consumption by country. Note ye the reliability ratings, however.

Consumption of pure alcohol in the world in litres of pure alcohol by inhabitant and year in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999 :

WORLD ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION TOTAL ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION BY COUNTRY (1996 - 1999) (Ranked in order of per capita consumption in 1999) Liters of pure alcohol
Rank	Country	Reliability	1996	1997	1998	1999
1	Luxemburg	**	11,6	11,4	13,3	12,2
2	Republic of Ireland	***	9,9	10,5	11,0	11,6
3	Portugal	**	11,6	11,3	11,3	11,0
4	France	**	11,2	10,9	10,8	10,7
5	Germany	***	10,6	10,8	10,6	10,6
6	Czech Republic	**	10,3	10,5	10,5	10,5
7	Rumania	*	9,6	9,8	10,5	10,3
8	Spain	**	9,3	10,2	10,1	9,9
9	Hungary	**	10,3	10,1	10,2	9,7
10	Denmark	***	10,0	9,9	9,5	9,5
11	Austria	**	9,7	9,5	9,3	9,3
12	Switzerland	***	9,3	9,2	9,2	9,2
13	Greece	*	8,7	8,8	8,6	8,9
14	Russia	*	7,3	7,3	7,9	8,6
15	Slovak Republic	**	8,3	8,3	8,0	8,2
16	Belgium	**	9,1	9,1	8,2	8,2
17	Netherlands	***	8,1	8,2	8,1	8,2
18	United Kingdom	***	7,9	8,1	7,9	8,1
19	Latvia	**	6,8	6,9	7,1	7,7
20	Italy	***	8,0	8,0	7,8	7,7
21	Australia	**	7,5	7,5	7,6	7,5
22	New Zealand	***	7,8	7,3	7,6	7,4
23	Finland	***	6,7	7,0	7,1	7,3
24	Cyprus	***	6,6	6,6	7,0	7,0
25	Poland	*	6,3	6,7	6,7	6,9
26	USA	***	6,6	6,6	6,6	6,7
27	Japan	**	6,7	6,4	6,5	6,6
28	Bulgaria	*	7,8	7,0	6,8	6,6
29	Argentina	*	6,7	6,9	6,8	6,4
30	Canada	***	6,2	6,1	6,2	6,3
31	Uruguay	**	5,9	5,9	6,0	6,0
32	Malta	***	5,3	5,1	5,1	5,2
33	South Africa	*	4,9	4,8	4,9	5,0
34	Venezuela	*	5,5	5,2	5,2	4,9
35	Sweden	**	4,9	5,1	4,9	4,9
36	Chile	**	5,0	4,5	5,1	4,9
37	Colombia	*	4,5	4,3	4,4	4,5
38	Norway	**	4,1	4,4	4,3	4,4
39	Brazil	**	4,1	4,1	4,0	4,2
40	Iceland	**	3,7	3,9	4,3	4,0
41	Thailand	***	4,5	4,4	4,3	3,9
42	China	*	3,7	3,7	3,7	3,8
43	Mexico	*	3,4	3,1	3,2	3,2
44	Taiwan	*	2,7	2,8	3,0	3,0
45	Guyana	**	2,9	2,9	2,7	2,8
46	Estonia	**	2,3	2,4	2,4	2,5
47	Paraguay	*	2,1	2,3	2,3	2,3
48	Cuba	*	2,7	2,7	2,3	2,2
49	Singapore	**	1,6	1,7	1,7	1,7
50	Peru	*	1,7	1,6	1,4	1,4
	Average		6,6	6,6	6,7	6,7

World Drink Trends 2000 Edition
notes :
***= Very Reliable
**= Reliable
*= Less Reliable