Consumption

Consumption


While there are many different statistics pertaining to vodka consumption across the world, one can certainly be skeptical as to how many of those numbers are biased or were simply poorly estimated by unqualified individuals.

For example, take a look at the table below which was drawn from The Physics Factbook written by Mr. Glenn Elert's students. These are simply various quotes and statistics collected from numerous sources, but the interesting part is the fluctuation. Apparently, in 2001 Time Magazine stated that Russia consumes 4 billion liters per year, while in 2005 Detroit Free Press stated that the number is actually just over 2 billion. It would be interesting to know how the results of the two studies managed to vary by such an incredibly large quantity.

(w/surrounding text) ** ||= ** Standardized Result ** || (US) || (Russia) || (Russia) || (Russia) || (US Smirnoff 1955) ||
 * = ** Bibliographic Entry ** ||= ** Result
 * = Plotkin, Robert. [|Adams Market Research Alcohol Beverage Industry]. ||= "category dominates the spirits landscape, with vodka consumption now accounting for 26.6% of all distilled spirits sold in the US, at more than 44 million 9-liter cases. While interest in other spirits categories are on the rise, vodka clearly remains America's favorite spirit." ||= 396,000,000 liters
 * = McDonald, Mark. [|Alcohol abuse puts Russia's future in a haze]. //Detroit Free Press//. June 2, 2005. ||= "Per capita consumption in 1950 was the equivalent of 0.8 gallons of pure alcohol per year. By 1985, it had soared to 3.75 gallons per person. In recent years it's climbed again, to 4 gallons per person, an all-time high for modern Russia." ||= 2,073,200,000 liters
 * = Keenlyside, Barbara, [|Russia, vodka and politics]. CNN. 2001. ||= "But annual consumption of vodka in the nation of 146 million is 4 billion liters a year, according to Time magazine." ||= 4,000,000,000 liters
 * = [|Bootleg vodka output still rife]. BeverageDaily.com. 18 October 2004. ||= "According to retail sales statistics, Russians consume 200 million decilitres of vodka a year, about 4 billion bottles and enough to fill a cargo train stretching from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk." ||= 2,000,000 liters
 * = Lemon, Richard. [|The Talk of the Town]. //The New Yorker//. 24 September 1955. ||= "In 1949, we were still selling only a hundred and twenty thousand cases. This year, we expect to sell one million two hundred thousand [9 liter cases]." ||= 10,800,000 liters

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