Alcohol Sales

Background: The Slavic countries of the former Soviet Union (fSU) Russia, Belarus and Ukraine retain one of the highest suicide
rates in the world, despite a gradual decline over the past decade
Aims: The present study aims to analyze whether population drinking is able to explain the dramatic fluctuations in suicide
mortality in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine from the late Soviet to post-Soviet period.
Method: Trends in sex-specific suicide rates and alcohol sales per capita from 1980 to 2010 in Russia-Belarus and Ukraine were
analyzed employing a Spearman’s rank-order correlation analysis.
Results: The estimates based on the Soviet data suggest a strong association between alcohol sales and suicide rates in Russia,
Belarus, and Ukraine. At the same time, the relationship between alcohol sales and suicide rates was negative in the post-Soviet
period.
Conclusion: The findings from the present study suggest that the suicide mortality fluctuations in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine
in the Soviet period were attributable to alcohol. Alternatively, alcohol can not fully explain the fluctuations in the suicide mortality
observed in these countries in the Soviet period. The similar regional pattern of suicide trends does not support the hypothesis
that alcohol control policy was responsible for the decline in Russian suicide mortality during the recent decade.