Yes, Russians like to drink. But how much do they like to drink? Well, over the New Year celebration- which lasts for about two weeks in Russia- Russians are said to have drank 1.5 billion liters of alcohol.

So much liquor was drank between December 31st- the start of the New Year festivities- and January 13th- the new year according to the old Julian calendar- that medical officials are concerned about the well-being of the country’s citizens.

“Long holidays are, in any event, bad,” says Yevgeny Bryun, Russia’s top medical drug official. “Long-term abuse of any alcohol is always bad – it has chronic toxic impacts, the effects of which can last a month. Alcohol is only fully processed after three weeks.”

Binge drinking, or zapoi as the Russians call it, is a part of the country’s culture. According to an expert’s estimation, if the bottles of alcohol the Russians drank over this holiday period were to be lined up along the earth’s equator, it would wrap around the world 17 times.

The head of Russia’s Research Center, Vadim Dobroz, estimated that the average Russian spent roughly $400 on alcohol during this elongated New Year’s celebration.

“The holidays are just holidays for regular people, but for doctors, especially drug doctors, they are hard-working days,” begins an article on Russian health Network MedPortal.

“The real fun begins three to four days after the holiday ends. Citizens, who have abused alcohol for at least 10 days (and some started in mid-December even), suddenly remember that they need to go to work.”

Paul Hudson | Elite.