2011 in booze

Since many of us may be getting ready to pop up our champagne bottles to celebrate the new year, I thought it would be appropriate to post about the second most popular article of The Economist of 2011: Drinking habits.

A map of world alcohol consumptionTHE world drank the equivalent of 6.1 litres of pure alcohol per person in 2005, according to a report from the World Health Organisation published on February 11th. The biggest boozers are mostly found in Europe and in the former Soviet states. Moldovans are the most bibulous, getting through 18.2 litres each, nearly 2 litres more than the Czechs in second place. Over 10 litres of a Moldovan's annual intake is reckoned to be 'unrecorded' home-brewed liquor, making it particularly harmful to health. Such moonshine accounts for almost 30% of the world's drinking. The WHO estimates that alcohol results in 2.5m deaths a year, more than AIDS or tuberculosis. In Russia and its former satellite states one in five male deaths is caused by drink.

I am curious to read the recipe for that "home-made" brewed Moldovan alcohol... :-)