Three-quarters of Russians support the idea to increase the age limit for purchasing alcohol.

MOSCOW, December 27, 2016.  Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data of the survey devoted to the Russian attitudes to the age limit for purchasing alcohol in Russia.

Three-quarters of Russians support the idea to increase the age limit for purchasing alcohol in Russia from 18 to 21 (77%). Over the last three years the level of support is above 70%. Seventeen percent of Russians perceive the idea negatively.

The analysis of the survey data across different social and demographic groups, shows that those who support the idea to increase the age limit tend to be women (82%), middle-aged and retired persons (80% among those aged 45-65) rather than men (71%) and young respondents (68% among those aged 18-24). As to respondents aged 18-24, the share of those who favor the idea is 61%. As to residents of cities and other settlements, the biggest share of supporters of this idea is among those who live in million cities (except for Moscow and St Petersburg) (74%) and residents of small cities (74%).

The VCIOM survey was initiated by the team of the Sober Russia Federal project and supported by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation; the survey was carried out from August 23 to September 19, 2016 in 272 settlements, 69 oblasts, krais an republics and 8 federal districts of Russia, with a sample of 6000 persons representative of the Russian population aged 18-65 according to sex, age, education, type of settlement. The survey was conducted with multi-stage stratified sample based on general rule of walking and quotas at the final selection stage.  The margin of error is +/-1.3%. The survey method is community-based structured face-to-face interviews. Apart from the margin of error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork should be taken into account. In 2013-2015, each survey involved 1600 persons aged 18 and over; the margin of error does not exceed +/-3.5%.

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