Communism continues to cause heavy drinking in Eastern European countries

Researchers from the School of Economics set out to establish to what extent living under communism, both in terms of the numbers of years spent under communist regimes and specifically during formative adult years of 18-25, influenced alcoholic intake in the future.

Using data from the first wave of the European Health Interview Survey (EHIS), gathered between 2006-2009, researchers Dr Gintare Malisauskaite and Dr Alex Klein, analysed alcohol intake for citizens in non-communist Cyprus, Greece, Malta and former communist regimes of Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia.

The results showed a clear trend that the amount of time spent living under communism is related to greater intake of alcohol, even since the collapse of the Soviet Union almost 20 years ago.

Commenting on the findings Dr Malisauskaite said: 'Data analysis shows that living under communism has had a long-term impact on alcohol consumption of those affected, resulting in more frequent consumption for both men and women and more likely binge drinking for men.

More