North Caucasus is stronghold of sobriety in Russia

The regions of North Caucasus have become the most 'sober' in Russia. These are the results of a joint study conducted by the federal project 'Sober Russia' and the 'Rating' information communications center.

At the same time, the creators of the rankings took into account such factors as the number of patients with alcoholism and patients with alcoholic psychoses, sales of vodka and beer, and the strength of anti-alcohol legislation in the regions of Russia. Experts' opinions were also taken into consideration. Representatives of NGOs were involved in monitoring the alcohol situation in Russian regions.

Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan were in the first three places. Moscow and St. Petersburg are behind them. The Rostov region, Sevastopol, Kabardino-Balkaria, the Volgograd region and Krasnodar Territory are among the top ten regions.

At the opposite end of the rating were the Chukotka Autonomous Region (80th place), the Novgorod region (81th), the Kamchatka Territory (82th), the Magadan Region (83rd place), the Nenets Autonomous District (84th) and the Jewish Autonomous Region (85th place).

The national rating of sobriety is the first in a series of similar studies. In the future, the places of regions in the rating will be changed according to expert's observations and objective indicators," Gazeta.ru cites the creators of the rating.

As the head of the department of higher journalistic skills at the Moscow State Linguistic University, political scientist, Ph.D., Alan Kasaev noted in an interview with the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, the sobriety of the North Caucasus regions reflects their mono-religious and mono-ethnic culture.

"They are actually mono-religious and mono-ethnic regions. As for first two regions, Chechnya and Ingushetia are mono-ethnic and mono-religious regions. Dagestan is a multiethnic region, but the main residents, the main percentage of the population, are Muslims. Moreover, as we know, Islam prohibits its followers from consuming alcoholic drinks," the expert said.

Speaking about the religious aspect of compliance with sobriety, the head of the department of higher journalistic skills at MSLU said that of the residents, not all of them stick to it.

A Professor at the Pyatigorsk State Linguistic University, a member of the Commission on Migration Affairs of the Council under the Russian President for International Relations, Maya Astvatsaturova, is satisfied with the fact that these regions are in first place, because the situation is not easy there.

"I mean the existence of terrorist activity, and some phenomena of social life: living standards, purchasing ability, the situation in the labor market, employment of young people. So it's very good that we have such good indicators on the background of the problems that exist there. This fact can be explained by the authorities' policy, but I think that it is tied with ethnic traditions, ethnic-social traditions, and ethnic and religious traditions," the Professor at the Piatigorsky State Linguistic University said.