The data on age-adjusted sex-specific alcoholism mortality rates per
1000.000 of the population are taken from the Russian State Statistical
Committee (Rosstat). The Rosstat’s cause of death classification has
undergone several changes in recent decades. Until 1988 the cause of
death classification was based upon the Soviet nomenclature which
had a limited number of causes of death in comparison with the
International Classification of Diseases (ICD) system. From 1989-1998
Rosstat used a coding scheme that was based on ICD-9. From 1999 a
new coding system based on ICD-10 was introduced. Rosstat issued a
table of correspondence between its classification system and ICD-9
and ICD-10 and it has been claimed that the Russian system of coding
is compatible with ICD codes. The data on per capita beverage-specific
alcohol sales (vodka, wine, beer in liters of pure alcohol) were taken
from Rosstat’s annual reports.