I found this extremely interesting. This graph shows alcohol consumption in Italy every two years starting from 1960 up till 20008. The data comes from OECD website. As seen on the graph, alcohol consumption in Italy has dropped drastically from 19,2 liters per capita in 1960 to only 8 liters per capita in 2008. Italy, together with France and Spain, are one of the biggest producers of great wine, but the consumption has been dropping dramatically starting from the 70ies. Italy has actually one of the lowest alcohol consumption levels in Europe. I do confirm, from my own experience of 6 years living in Italy, that Italians do have moderate consumption of wine, but the risky drinking, like in my home country Russia, simply does not exist. They also drink less and less wine during lunchtime, perhaps, due to a new lifestyle, having lunches at work in front of their computers.
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