Alcoholism and drug addiction in the regions of Russia: current situation, causes and effects

Alcoholism and drug addiction in the strongest negative way affects many indicators of the quality of life and negative negative impact, inhibits the socio-economic development and scientific progress of the population. The article presents the results of a study aimed at finding the causes and consequences of the spread of alcoholism and drug addiction in Russia. The statistical data reflecting the current picture in the regions and dynamics over the past 8 years are presented. Despite the positive changes and the fact that, statistically, the level of prevalence of alcoholism and every year its negative impact on important indicators remains very high. The reasons are given for the official data on the real extent of alcoholism and drug addiction in Russia. In order to search for the causes and consequences of social diseases, a correlation analysis was carried out taking into account direct and inverse time lags with 10 socio-economic indicators for all regions of the country for 11 years. The results obtained statistically confirmed the negative impact of alcoholism and drug addiction on important indicators of quality of life and improvement, such as life expectancy, infant mortality, and the number of crimes and homicides. The reasons for the spread of alcoholism and drug addiction are revealed, which consist in the increased anxiety of the population, poverty and unemployment. The results obtained can be used in the formation of a regional development strategy in order to reduce the level of alcoholism and drug addiction in the country.