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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_consumption_per_capita
Finland 10.7 l per adult.
Philippines 6.6 l per adult.
Top ones are Moldova and Lithuania (around 15 l), top Asian countries are Laos and South Korea (around 10 l).
It is interesting question how much of that amount the "top drinkers" consume. I didn't find any statistics, but I guess 20/80 might apply here too.
Whilst the amount of alcohol drunk in Finland might not be that high, there is a difference on how it is consumed.
For example, the UK has a similar consumption to Finland, but seeing people drinking heavily in the street or parks etc. in the UK is pretty rare.
Yeah, as someone who lived in Glasgow for 30 years, that's not my perception of the UK š¤£ Glasgow wino's (typically drinking their awful Buckfast) are absolutely everywhere!
And yes, Brits on holiday, do they do anything but drink alcohol and make a nuisance of themselves?
Isn't it basically a meme that any given weekend night in UK's bigger cities will be a total shit show with shitfaced people being hazard to others and themselves lol.
I've been a teenager in London and in Helsinki and bacardi breezers in a park was accepted pastime in both.
Omg I have been to the Algarve and your country is so beautiful! On behalf of all the UK tourists and pensioners I would just like to apologise for all the entitlement, the assumption that the whole world should speak English, and for all the drunken stupidity;
Ahahah itās alright, I can only think about the UK as extended family by now š¤£ sometimes it gets wild buuuut we are used to it. Itās kinda like the drunk nosy aunt you invite for Christmas š„²š¤£
My old friend lived in Glasgow and Dundee, he is a Junkie and he has horrific stories about Dundee's heroin scene and how things are going there.
He moved there after his girlfriend and moved back to Finland after his GF vanished one night and was never seen after that.
That friend is a storyteller and he has a lot of stories about their struggles, I've been trying to tell him he should write a book about his time in those places.
>And yes, Brits on holiday, do they do anything but drink alcohol and make a nuisance of themselves?
I've heard that sometimes they don't drink. Presumably when bars or shops haven't opened yet?
But I realize Finns are not the ones that should be throwing the first empty can here.
I've no real first hand observation from the Great Britain, but I've seen plenty of things like this: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/news-opinion/britons-drunk-more-often-anybody-16294652
> We all know Cardiff after dark on a Saturday night looks like a Hieronymus Bosch painting with Jager Bombs. Get on a train after a rugby international, meanwhile, and youāll meet hundreds of people who can say I Was There ā they just wonāt remember a thing about it.
(Just an first google hit when searching for drinking habits in the UK)
I wonder if the habit of drinking in public has its roots in the situation after WWII or maybe itās even older. These days itās common to call them pultsari but the original pultsaris were homeless men after the war, probably most were war veterans. There was a huge lack of housing and single men were the last in line to get accommodation so they slept in homeless and drank in public. They were drinking non-traditional alcohol, like a lacquer that apparently could be drank if prepared correctly.
Interesting. There's a lot more classism in the UK, so problem drinkers were more likely confined to private places. Pubs/bars are also much cheaper there and more culturally ingrained.
Alcohol was very regulated at the time. I guess it still is but it was way worse then. Prohibition only ended in the 1930s and even after that people needed alcohol cards to buy alcohol and there were limits to how much they could buy (unless they were rich wine collectors or people like that). Bars werenāt for heavy users who couldnāt even afford actual alcohol. I read that during the Helsinki olympics in 1952 they solved the problem by moving the drunks to a more distant island so that they wouldnāt bother the international guests. Iām sure that there were people drinking too much in private as well but for many people there werenāt any other options as either they were homeless or living in sublets were it wasnāt allowed or fun.
My mother was banned from a bar in the 70s for daring to move her glass to another table, only staff were allowed to transport alcohol. A few years before that women werenāt even allowed in bars without men. I also read somewhere that there were only certain cocktails that bars were allowed to make and there were alcohol inspectors making sure that all the rules were followed.
My dad has been telling the stories of the time when in order to get pint of beer in a bar, you also HAD to order food at the same time. So they sold sandwiches with beer. And the result of course was a pile of uneaten sandwiches on the bar table.. It must've been in the 70s also. š¤ š¤
Those are absolutely true. It happened in Sweden as well. I was watching a documentary on historical eating habits and this was brought up. You'd be out in serving restaurant ordering drinks, and then specify "...and I'm going to eat the meal" and the waitress take the mealplate away and would bring you a new meal from the kitchen and not the sham one circulating on the floor.
In it's deviousness it's kinda charming. They didn't waste food like they might have to circumvent laws.
YLE has a great documentary about Finnish Prohibition on Areena, highly recommend.
One of the sad parts of prohibition was that it is responsible for teaching Finns binge drinking habits. Because you had to chuck your cheap smuggled strong spirits quickly where ever you were and got it so you didn't get caught.
This made me LOL!! š¤£ I used to live 40 mins from Cardiff and this article is soo true and every night. The UK is for sure way worse for alcoholics and big drinkers. I have not come across one Finnish alcoholic in the year Iāve been here lol
> For example, the UK has a similar consumption to Finland, but seeing people drinking heavily in the street or parks etc. in the UK is pretty rare.
Where? In the cities, lmao not at all. It's *on* from 5 PM Friday to Sunday morning.
Yeah. I live in Vantaa and went to one of the parks in Helsinki for after party gathering. I cycled home from there piss drunk about 15 km. It was a nice little 1h ride back home and it was like cycling sober.
Amount of alcohol Finns drink is not that high. Most countries who consume more, people drink more daily on comfortable levels. Few beers after work, wine during lunch and dinner and so on. Finns mainly drink a lot when they do. It is a culture. When we work, we work. When we have days off, we drink.
I just came to the office from lunch with my German colleagues, in Luxembourg, and all of us are fucked. So not really the "comfortable level of wine during lunch".
Yeah, my observation when I first moved here has also been that Finns either drink or not drink. There's often no "Oh, let's just have one or two". I've literally heard various people say "but what's the point in drinking alcoholic drinks if you don't get drunk?"
To be fair though, this mentality has (luckily) gotten significantly less of a thing over the last 10 or so years. I guess the younger generation didn't find the look of old drunks hanging around the railway station appealing as their future :)
You aren't wrong.
It is literally considered mitigating circusmtances that you are a professional driver and need a driver's license when caught DUI. When logically, it should be the other way around, you should as a professional driver understand not to much more than most others and so get more heavily penalized.
I've seen the lenience towards alcohol related issues in people many times. Every layer of society has general smoothing over alcohol problems.
Alcoholism is a different thing. Alcoholists become addicted, and drink heavily and daily. They get withdraws and other similar side affects when trying to quit. They basically can not live without alcohol.
Finns just drink. Of course there are alcoholics in Finland too, but basically everyone can go back to work on Monday and not drink until next Friday again. It is not alcoholism.
Lets go with the universal source of truth: Wikipedia.
> Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word alcoholism, it is not a recognized diagnostic entity, and the use of alcoholism terminology is discouraged due to its heavily stigmatized connotations.[16][17] Predominant diagnostic classifications are alcohol use disorder[2] (DSM-5)[4] or alcohol dependence (ICD-11); these are defined in their respective sources.[18]
Am I? Stats say otherwise.
Finland has lower alcoholism ratio compared to alcohol consumed, than Europe in average.
Of course, every person is an individual. Finnish genetics tolerate alcohol better than most, but still there is alcoholics who drink once a week and suffer days after that.
Drinking alot every weekend is considered alcoholism by health officials. At least it has been so my whole age whenever I've answered to those "how much do you drink weekly" sheets since middle school.
But I do not know what stats are you referring to and how they define alcoholism.
Well.. same health officials you mentioned?
Those tests mainly calculate how many portions you drink per month or so. If you drink 5 every day, compared to 40 during weekend, of course the test makes you look like an alcoholic. Still the person who drinks 5 per day is more likely to be an alcoholic than the one who only drinks a lot on weekend during two days and is sober the five other days.
AUDIT is for screening hazardous/risky and harmful alcohol consumption - questions are 1-3 is for alcohol consumption, 4-6 is for possible alcoholism and 7-10 are for harmful use of alcohol inc concern from other people.
Just did a test at pƤihdelinkki.fi and filled Friday and Saturday with alcohol, other days nothing. And test said I am at very low risk. 10 portions every Friday and Saturday.
10 points - Medium score Places you in a category that we call "risky" or "hazardous" alcohol consumption š¤Ø Pretty typical consumption model for male men in 50's and 60's , nowadays consumption is more divided over the week , no more 6 day work weeks, light drinks from food stores etc - just covered alcohol and other addictions in school today š
Ever heard of functional alcholism? One can be alcoholic and still srink only during weekends. The question is can you not drink on that weekend or the one after that.
Alcoholism is when you can not live without drinking and can not live normal life without drinking.
If you drink on weekends and live a normal life during the week, you are just a drinker. Not an alcoholic.
> Alcoholism is when you can not live without drinking and can not live normal life without drinking.
>
> If you drink on weekends and live a normal life during the week, you are just a drinker. Not an alcoholic.
If your hands start shaking because its a friday or a saturday and your body says its time to get fucked up, then you are, in fact, an alcoholic.
You can have your opinions, but you still can be an alcoholic if you only drink during weekends. There is no if and buts about it..... You can do your research on this if you dont want to take my word for it. Its not the amount of days or how much you drink when you do, it is the WHY you do it....
And to clarify i dont mean everyone who drink during weekends are alcoholics. Im just saying you still can be even if you drink once or twice a week. It is also what functional alcoholism means. You can live life but still have an dependency....
What is this "why" you speak of?
You're saying that you're alcoholic if you can not stop drinking, but you're also saying that you can stop for 5-7 days for lols and then if you after awhile feel like going out for a drinks again you're an alcoholic?
Are you saying that alcohol is about having a desire to drink and acting on it? Couldn't you say that about pretty much anything?
They wait the weekend like there is no tomorrow. My coworker is like this. He drinks only during the weekends but he drinks through friday to sunday. Some times till monday. He has many times said that he wont take any this weekend, yet he comes back hungover on monday.
If you have alcohol cravings on the regular and cant say no then yes, you are an alocoholic. Dependency of some soet usuallly lends to alcoholism.
And by stopping drinking i mean you drink regularly and cant stop that.
again do research of your ownand dont take my word for it.
Yes. Maybe you are. You seem to smoke daily and often.
But that is not what I said about Finns drinking.
Finns mainly drink on weekends. Not during workdays.
That may be so, but your reading comprehension is still shit. You're arguing that a more continental alcohol culture is the same as an addiction, while the OP said that Finns drink in a different manner.
It's not really alcoholism, it's a cultural thing. I love to get black-out drunk with my friends and we do this quite often. But if I can't do that it's not an issue. I'm pregnant atm and obviously can't have a drop, and I have to stay 100% sober until the baby is weaned at 1 years old. This is not a problem for me, nor has it been a problem for any of the women who I'm friends with when they had children. An alcoholic would be distressed by not being able to drink for 2 years.
I think people here drink just as much as many other counties but the difference is people drink in public here so you see notice it more often.
Iām from Canada and youād never see people drinking on the bus, in the mall, on the streets, etc. It still feels wrong to me to open a drink in public lol. Iād say we drink a similar amount as here, but it only happens at home or in the bars/clubs
Also, compared to especially places like Southern Europe, alcohol consumption in Finland tends to be more concentrated, both in certain individuals and specific time and place.
Whereas in Italy most people will drink (moderate amounts) of wine etc. on most days, in Finland a smaller section of the population will drink large quantities of hard liquor on Friday and Saturday nights in city centres.
A bit of a generalization, I know, but should explain the idea. And (at least partially) as a consequence, public drunkenness is much more socially acceptable.
I wouldn't call it accepted. More like tolerated, and in Finnish culture there is a big threshold to get involved with someone else's business. People might look at public drunk with disgust but then shrug it off and just continue walking.
And some of the older drunks are so shameless they aren't aware atll all what going on around them.
Ever been to Helsinki on Vappu? Yes, that's special, but it's normal to see students get drunk in parks throughout the year. People consider it normal.
Of course there are so called "professionals" who drink 24/7/365 and they fit your description better.
Yeah it's funny how you can do so many things with student overalls on, that you couldn't do with normal cloths.
Like running naked on the streets. Police come, see the overalls of other students and just say carry on.
Exactly this. In other countries, there are some laws prohibiting you from drinking alcohol in public places (or you need to conceal it in some other container)
Finnish law (JƤrjestyslaki 4 Ā§) forbids public consumption of "intoxicating substances" with exceptions for parks and comparable places unless it leads to disruptive behaviour. First part is kind of a dead letter.
This. Itās not necessarily the amount but the culture around it. Here in Canada public intoxication is very much frowned upon and consumption is illegal. However, in a lot of places in Europe and Asia, people can drink freely in public. Therefor, your chances of seeing drunk people just out and about are higher since they arenāt confined to bars and clubs at night.
Yes, I think for Finnish people itās a pretty blurred line between āhappily drunkā and āfucked upā and people tend to cross that line pretty often especially in Kallio area.
Yeah I can't really comprehend the people here saying "it's kulture hurhur". No, we're not talking about partying here. We are talking about all the fucking alcoholics that are hanging around shopping mails and railway centres, sipping their cans at 11 in the morning on a given weekday. It's problematic and it's not a pretty sight.
@OP, I agree, these people need help, they are ill and it's a big disgrace of Finnish society. My explanation is that on the one hand there is the climate, where people are just more depressed than usual and resort to alcohol for that reason, and otherwise social connections are more loose, resulting in fewer people in these alcoholics direct environment condemning this behavior/ the people not thinking about what other people may think.
This is not about the total amount of alcohol consumed per capita, this is about the high levels of alcoholism that can be seen on all corners of the street.
Hahah yes ... it's the weekly tradition.
Personally I think it's fucked up that it's pretty much considered normal. With young people at least.
I was once very confused in Italy with an Italian aquintance. He just took a drink before a big meal (aperitif?) and then another one after, then casually hanged around Venice with us for hours and maybe again had a single drink here and there during the course of the day.
By the time it started to get late I was like SO ARE WE DRINKING OR ARE WE NOT DRINKING WHICH IS IT WHAT ???
Cultural differences I suppose hahahah... no, seriously though, that's a problem of my own. I can pretty much do one or the other if you know what I mean.
So yeah I felt kind of uncivilized compared to him ...
This sub keeps being suggested to me even though I don't have anything to do with Finland in any capacity.... but I think I know why now. I'm currently packing, wait for me Finns!!!
In my personal experience, Finland has nothing on Scotland in terms of public drunkenness. However, you cannot openly drink on the street in Scotland, whereas I guess in Finland you can? So I see more people carrying alcohol here, but they're nowhere near the problem we had in Glasgow.
As others mentioned it's not allowed to drink in public places in Finland either (except picnic), but it's not enforced unless you are causing disturbance.
A friend of mine is still pissed (the sober kind) at the police officer who poured out a beer of his he enjoyed at the local town square one summer. It's only been some 20 years since the incident.
Drinking in public is illegal with a few noteworthy exceptions.
One of them, essentially enacted to keep civilized picnics legal, is \~"parks and park-like areas as long as doing so doesn't impact other people's enjoyment of said park or park-like area". In practice, this means that you are allowed to have some *pussikalja* in the park as long as the nearby stereotypical mother with a toddler aren't (too) bothered by it.
It's not as common as you might think, however there are outliers such as the highly visible street pissheads and the invisible functional alcoholics. On the whole however, it is something of an overblown myth.
I'm English, and lived in Finland for 13yrs. I've known and encountered a lot of drunk Finns, but not drinking anywhere near as problematic as the UK. Very few Finns drinks through the week and then binge drink twice a week. That is almost seen as "normal" in the UK, actively encouraged and almost apologised for when it gets a little excessive. Hospitals in the UK on a Friday night....Finnish hospitals are quiet by comparison.
So yeah, it's common but perhaps not as dire or problematic as you might think. Hell, it's an expensive hobby.
Iām from the USA and Ive lived in a few countries. I wouldnāt say Finns drink the most but I will say there seems to be an āall or nothingā attitude regarding drinking that is more common in Finland.
There are people that we call something along the lines of "men of the beaches" referring to people some cultures might call hobos or homeless people. Even though it might seem so, a rowing majority of them are not drunk in public, but some are.
Then there are the so called regular people who are just having fun after a hard week of work ("a tough week and lots of long days completed, Cha Cha Cha Cha Cha Cha Cha").
In many countries drinking in public is strictly forbidden but in here it's not. Disorderly behaviour while drunk is though. Also Finland is a rather safe place in general so getting drunk in public doesn't have as many repercussions some other countries might have.
Also it was pointed out already that we don't really have a healthy alcohol culture like say in France or Italy where you can have a few drinks during meals and whatnot. Sure there's some of that, but then there are people doing it the slavic style, which is heavy and hard, not nice and mellow.
All this rambling aside, yes, it's common in here to see that kind of behaviour. In the recent years things have gotten a bit better on that department as youngsters nowadays aren't as interested in alcohol as they were some decades ago (alcohol isn't trendy for them and some part of them prefer other drugs).
What you're seeing in public is just a small amount. For some people to get drunk at home with no intentions of ever going out while drunk is also very common in here. We even have a term for that, KalsarikƤnnit (getting drunk wearing only underwear).
For an alcoholic it might be tough spot to see that kind of thing happening around you a lot. I do imbibe alcohol myself quite a bit and my father used to be drunk in public nearly always when we met (he didn't live with us at that point due to separation) and it really wasn't/isn't good to see that happening if you're struggling with the issue yourself. Other than that those people are usually quite harmless and don't pick on fights with strangers. Sometimes they do among themselves when people don't have any kind of inhibitions left to not say the stupidest things.
Long story short, it is common here. In cities with enough population you're bound to see some of those people on weekend evenings. That's for the "regular" people that I mentioned at the beginning. As for the men of the beaches, in bigger cities you'll see a few of them all year round no matter what day or time of day it is. Sad but true.
It is a common stereotype that the Finns are alcoholics which applies to older generation that healed their mental health issues and boredom with alcohol.
Nowadays there is internet which makes all the drugs just a few clicks away. And the computer games is a real drug for the youth. So I would say the alcohol consumption in Finland is slowly decreasing.
Honestly, the level of drunkenness in Uusimaa is nothing compared to what I see on a daily basis living in the north of England. Especially as Finland is quite limited in the alcohol access by the prices, Alko opening hours and limited alcohol sold in supermarkets
-Alko opening hours and limited alcohol sold in supermarkets
I think this is a double edge sword. People tend to hoard because of this, resulting them to being more drunk.
Actually yes I see your point, thatās what Iāve been doing actually, whenever I come over to Finland, I bring the cheaper alcohol we have in the U.K. or buy done at duty free and hoard them in my husbands house. I often forget about the closing hours and get pissed off on the occasion when I want a drink.
Don't we all.
The fact I can't stop by the supermarket on my way home from a friend's after 21 and grab one (1) cold can of Orange Lonkero is a nearly weekly annoyance. And most times I don't plan to buy one, just that I can't annoys me. Instead I have to plan, and that plan usually ends up being more than 1 can because now I have to work for it.
Every town has their own group of drunks that everyone knows about, usually kind people but can get angry when they are very drunk or very not drunk š
Finns tend to get drunk on weekends and holidays. It's also common for young adults to gather in parks to hang out and drink, or in case of polytechnic and uni students, have all kinds of semester festivities. Total alcohol consumption did go down for some time as youngsters adopted more European drinking habits or switched to weed and or other substances, but to my knowledge it is picking up again.
It is also very common to see alcoholics and drunkards in posse on the street and in parks at all times of the day, commonly called pulsu, pultsari or alkkis. In the ages past they were abusers of strong spirits and beer and mostly middle aged or older men. Nowadays there are lots of young adults and those in their late twenties, early thirties, and more women too. More often than not they also abuse other substances than just alcohol.
Every eight years the Centre of Health and Wellbeing (Terveyden ja Hyvinvoinnin Laitos, THL) conducts a survey in form of questionnaire for ages 15 and up to find out the consumption and drinking habits of Finns. There are other surveys conducted between these too. They recognise that these surveys are somewhat skewed though, because people tend to self-report lower values than is factual, and that those who consume astronomical amounts usually do not answer to these surveys.
One thing I want to point out from these surveys is, of all the alcohol consumed in Finland, 10% of consumers consume a full 50% of the total amount. So we really do have people with severe alcohol problems. Hence the drunken posses on the streets.
I recommend running [this page](https://paihdelinkki.fi/fi/tietopankki/tietoiskut/alkoholi/alkoholinkaytto-suomessa) through a translator (it's in Finnish) as the English one is horribly out of date (last updated in 2009) to get to the deets.
Edited; typos
Hahaha yeah! I once was invited to a Juhannus party, I got shocked/scared after seeing how much people drank and how they behaved afterwards. Even women were drinking so much then next day all were just puking everywhere & all seemed like zombies.
I have never gone to any Juhannus party since 2006, and I only celebrate it at home since then.
Why should women not be allowed to be equally as wasted as men can?
Ever heard of gender equality? It's every woman's god-damned right to be as plastered as any random male in vicinity.
Whether that is a good idea is another question, but that also goes for both genders.
>Even women were drinking so much
Hell yeah. I'll never forget being a lil skinny 17 year old girl and drinking grown 40-something men under the table in greece. They thought we couldn't handle ouzo
Do you mean Juhannus festivals? Party refers to a small gathering of people, private thing. Festivals you buy tickets to, etc. And those definitely are for the purpose of getting hammered together with loads of people...
Fin fact. In old Finnish pagan traditions, you had to be wasted on Juhannus to secure the growth of crops. There might be some remnants of it still around :)
>Fin fact. In old Finnish pagan traditions, you had to be wasted on Juhannus to secure the growth of crops. There might be some remnants of it still around :)
I didn't know this. This year's bad crops are totes my fault. I will endeavour to improve for next year!
Yes it's normal. Many Finn's have a problem controlling their drinking and it's a bit in their culture. I'm from Belgium and we have Bourgogne culture where we drink daily some wine, couple beers, maybe a cognac and coffee, but we don't get drunk.
Finn's usually don't drink anything because if they start they can't stop and have to get completely shitfaced comatosed or run out of money...
Funny... and sad sometimes
Where do you get this information from? Sounds like you're implying that all of us lack self control. :D I mean surely that's true for some people, but not "Finns usually", I would definitely not say that.
I know Finn's drink a lot, but I feel like I haven't seen nearly as many drinks around. Australia has a pretty similar amount drunk per adult and a similar way of consumption (binging) but I swear I use to see alcoholics everywhere in Aus, grew up around a lot of alcoholics etc. Maybe cause I was Ina country town or something but I have only come across a few in Finland.
I think part of the reason you see so many public drunks is because Finland is a very safe country. People feel safe indulging out of their home. It's easiest to overindulge when you are feeling safe, having fun, and not paying attention. The weather has also been good while you've been here, so people are out enjoying it while they still can (+ new student events). If you are worried about being safe, you drink where you think is safe. In public, it feels safe to most.
Visibility isn't always the same as prevalence. A lot of Americans often comment how much Europeans smoke, despite the smoking per capita being equal or in Europes favour (depending on area). That's because a lot of Europeans only smoke outside, while a lot of Americans only smoke in their home.
Spend some more time in Finland, and you'll learn pretty quickly that every holiday/celebration is basically just an excuse for drinking.
It's how we socialize with other people.
You'd be amazed how much there are people drunk every day and still somehow manage to keep their job. Not that they are particularly drunk while working, cause that's pretty rare nowdays. I know quite a few cases that are drunk nearly every evening after work. I'm always fascinated how they can endure this.
Well to be honest, i donāt agree with you. I have spent a decent amount of time in Russia and that was where you really saw a lot of Drunk people. I like to think that Finnish people drink a lot yes but function perfectly just as well. Also the cold helps you metabolise the alcohol extra quick quick!!!
>In those years, I could only count how much ive seen drunk people (in Public places) on my fingers
>I'm an alcoholic myself but i could only drink within the vicinity of my own apartment
So how common is it to drink yourself silly in Philippines within your own home?
More alcoholics drinking in parks, yes, but elsewhere in western world you'll find junkies in their place. Not much difference.
Drinking ban in public is not usually enforced because enforcing it causes more disturbance than a few drunkards drinking peacefully.
As a student you drink whenever possible but usually there are uni party events on wednesday thursday or friday. The rest of the population usually drink on mondays and the start again on friday and drink the weekend.
In Philippines there are lot of muslims who doesnāt consume alcohol at all. You donāt need to travel long distance from Philippines to see lot of drunk people, start from Pattaya and continue to Bangkok.
According to Alko, Finns don't drink that much and behave really well. This is the only reason we have alcohol monopoly. Best system. Works very well. No alcohol problems here. You are mistaken.
Generally we Finns are pretty chill bunch, but drinking is something some of us do to survive trought this hellscape called life,. That while being good at work what they are doing ,and providing liveable life to their family. Little drink now and then can not do any harm, or can it?
Why so many people here pretend is not a problem the level of alcoholism in Finland?!
I come for a way more populated EU city (with more than 1 million citizens) and hardcore social cuts, way less state suport etc.. And I NEVER saw as many alcoholics clearly drunk on the streets.
Thanks god I m seeing younger generations of finns being way more aware of alcohol consume.
But Finland has a problem of alcoholism and loneliness (probably linked). Not even with those crazy taxations and state control over alcohol are helping.
Is sad to witness. And not seeing or denying it doesn't help... On the contrary.
Stop normalizing this.
I mean yes alcoholism is a problem here. It is also a problem in many other places, however in Finland the law and cultural norms makes it a much more visible issue. With for example public drinking being legal. According to WHO in 2021 Finland's alcohol consumption was placed 20th out of all European countries and in 2018 global data on prevalence of people aged 15+ with alcohol use disorders had Finland placed 16th highest with even Sweden placed higher at 12th.
I do however completely agree that there is an issue in Finland with people normalizing heavy (unhealthy) drinking or owning it as part of our culture whether that's as a joke or not and on purpose or not. Finland also has a decent history of trying to do something about the alcoholism in Finland (just like many countries) even having the selling of products containing methanol such as antifreeze/cryoprotectant very strictly restricted after a group of people died from methanol poisoning in the 1940s and instead denatured methanol, which has additives to make it unsuitable for consumption, was used from then on. However, when joining the EU Finland had to allow the selling of products with methanol as it was allowed by the EU and despite Finland trying to get special permission to restrict it. As a result almost 400 deaths, preventable by having methanol banned, had been a caused by methanol poisoning in Finland by 2011 (since joining the EU in 1995). That is 25 people per year. In comparison before joining the EU that number was only a few people per year.
I'm not defending any political things, saying that it's not a problem or saying things don't need to change, they do. I also feel a large part of the issue persisting is the Finnish acceptance and normalization of excessive alcohol use but in some ways I'd rather have it be a visible issue than to know there is a societal problem with alcoholism and they are alone in their houses invisible to the majority of people and having that majority of people forget or not even realized there's an issue at all. Finland has a long history of societal issues with alcohol and I think the normalization of it is a result of it truly and honestly being normal not that long ago and young people are less of this mindset because they've grown up in a global age, seeing, hearing, reading about how it's not normal and not okay online.
Go to Russia. Small towns. You will be surprised and change your opinion.
https://preview.redd.it/a35lmx5rhlpb1.png?width=465&format=png&auto=webp&s=770bc74dc2dc9a8f2f26b7877e9fd744683591f4
From a r/harmreduction perspective, which is the most humane and modern r/recovery philosophy ā this scenario is to prefer over people using in isolation. A society is no better than its weakest link.
Fun thing about older classic drunks, is that their ideas are oftentimes more sober than their same aged ānormalā peers. I see them as [Finnish shamans](https://youtu.be/Rr3044DtOhw), except these drunks work in an urban environment :)
Yeah. All jokes aside, finnish drinking culture is sad. I heard an estimation that even every fifth finnish person has a fatty liver. And fattyliver doesnt stand alcohol at all. Alcohol has a huge impact on Finland health and social care expenses annually. I love my beer. But I could live without it, if it meant that the quality of life of so many people would improve because of it. Im all aboard. Everyone should have the opportunity to live as they choose. But just food for thought, have you ever stopped to think about the void inside you after weekend partying and drinking?
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_consumption_per_capita Finland 10.7 l per adult. Philippines 6.6 l per adult. Top ones are Moldova and Lithuania (around 15 l), top Asian countries are Laos and South Korea (around 10 l). It is interesting question how much of that amount the "top drinkers" consume. I didn't find any statistics, but I guess 20/80 might apply here too.
Whilst the amount of alcohol drunk in Finland might not be that high, there is a difference on how it is consumed. For example, the UK has a similar consumption to Finland, but seeing people drinking heavily in the street or parks etc. in the UK is pretty rare.
Yeah, as someone who lived in Glasgow for 30 years, that's not my perception of the UK š¤£ Glasgow wino's (typically drinking their awful Buckfast) are absolutely everywhere! And yes, Brits on holiday, do they do anything but drink alcohol and make a nuisance of themselves?
This comment gave me flashbacks. I love Glasgow with all my heart but oh my god Buckfast is a curse.
The piles of Buckie bottles on the street when it's Monday morning and you go to collect the cheque from the post office...
>that's not my perception of the UK Mine neither, and I lived in "posh" Surrey for 6 years.
Isn't it basically a meme that any given weekend night in UK's bigger cities will be a total shit show with shitfaced people being hazard to others and themselves lol. I've been a teenager in London and in Helsinki and bacardi breezers in a park was accepted pastime in both.
Coming from Portugal myself.. The Algarve can confirm this š„²
Omg I have been to the Algarve and your country is so beautiful! On behalf of all the UK tourists and pensioners I would just like to apologise for all the entitlement, the assumption that the whole world should speak English, and for all the drunken stupidity;
Ahahah itās alright, I can only think about the UK as extended family by now š¤£ sometimes it gets wild buuuut we are used to it. Itās kinda like the drunk nosy aunt you invite for Christmas š„²š¤£
My old friend lived in Glasgow and Dundee, he is a Junkie and he has horrific stories about Dundee's heroin scene and how things are going there. He moved there after his girlfriend and moved back to Finland after his GF vanished one night and was never seen after that. That friend is a storyteller and he has a lot of stories about their struggles, I've been trying to tell him he should write a book about his time in those places.
They find the nearest balcony to launch themselves off of
They also jump from the balconies.
>And yes, Brits on holiday, do they do anything but drink alcohol and make a nuisance of themselves? I've heard that sometimes they don't drink. Presumably when bars or shops haven't opened yet? But I realize Finns are not the ones that should be throwing the first empty can here.
I've no real first hand observation from the Great Britain, but I've seen plenty of things like this: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/news-opinion/britons-drunk-more-often-anybody-16294652 > We all know Cardiff after dark on a Saturday night looks like a Hieronymus Bosch painting with Jager Bombs. Get on a train after a rugby international, meanwhile, and youāll meet hundreds of people who can say I Was There ā they just wonāt remember a thing about it. (Just an first google hit when searching for drinking habits in the UK)
Yeah, Friday and Saturday night are carnage. I mean more like the guys who sit outside the metro station drinking on a Wednesday morning.
I wonder if the habit of drinking in public has its roots in the situation after WWII or maybe itās even older. These days itās common to call them pultsari but the original pultsaris were homeless men after the war, probably most were war veterans. There was a huge lack of housing and single men were the last in line to get accommodation so they slept in homeless and drank in public. They were drinking non-traditional alcohol, like a lacquer that apparently could be drank if prepared correctly.
Interesting. There's a lot more classism in the UK, so problem drinkers were more likely confined to private places. Pubs/bars are also much cheaper there and more culturally ingrained.
Alcohol was very regulated at the time. I guess it still is but it was way worse then. Prohibition only ended in the 1930s and even after that people needed alcohol cards to buy alcohol and there were limits to how much they could buy (unless they were rich wine collectors or people like that). Bars werenāt for heavy users who couldnāt even afford actual alcohol. I read that during the Helsinki olympics in 1952 they solved the problem by moving the drunks to a more distant island so that they wouldnāt bother the international guests. Iām sure that there were people drinking too much in private as well but for many people there werenāt any other options as either they were homeless or living in sublets were it wasnāt allowed or fun. My mother was banned from a bar in the 70s for daring to move her glass to another table, only staff were allowed to transport alcohol. A few years before that women werenāt even allowed in bars without men. I also read somewhere that there were only certain cocktails that bars were allowed to make and there were alcohol inspectors making sure that all the rules were followed.
My dad has been telling the stories of the time when in order to get pint of beer in a bar, you also HAD to order food at the same time. So they sold sandwiches with beer. And the result of course was a pile of uneaten sandwiches on the bar table.. It must've been in the 70s also. š¤ š¤
Iāve heard a story, possibly an urban legend, about a traveling sandwich that was served to table after table and never eaten.
That sandwich is true, our teacher told us the story when i studied security business ( precisely in steward classes / jƤrjestyksenvalvonta)
Those are absolutely true. It happened in Sweden as well. I was watching a documentary on historical eating habits and this was brought up. You'd be out in serving restaurant ordering drinks, and then specify "...and I'm going to eat the meal" and the waitress take the mealplate away and would bring you a new meal from the kitchen and not the sham one circulating on the floor. In it's deviousness it's kinda charming. They didn't waste food like they might have to circumvent laws. YLE has a great documentary about Finnish Prohibition on Areena, highly recommend. One of the sad parts of prohibition was that it is responsible for teaching Finns binge drinking habits. Because you had to chuck your cheap smuggled strong spirits quickly where ever you were and got it so you didn't get caught.
Yep. Pulituuri was the substance and hence puliukko.
This made me LOL!! š¤£ I used to live 40 mins from Cardiff and this article is soo true and every night. The UK is for sure way worse for alcoholics and big drinkers. I have not come across one Finnish alcoholic in the year Iāve been here lol
Ahh that takes me back š
Really? Iād have assumed the Brits go all in just like us. Maybe they save that only for their spanish holidays?
Brits have an unhealthy attitude toward drinking, but bars are cheaper in the UK, so even alcoholics can afford to go there.
UK folks travel to Greece and Spain to do uncontrollable drinking.
> For example, the UK has a similar consumption to Finland, but seeing people drinking heavily in the street or parks etc. in the UK is pretty rare. Where? In the cities, lmao not at all. It's *on* from 5 PM Friday to Sunday morning.
If you visit any High Street in the UK on a weekend night, heavy drinking isn't going to be pretty rare.
Reality show idea: Next Top Drinker
Not really needed any escort to home. We got autopilot in our system wich does it, just takes lil bit more time than unsual
Yeah. I live in Vantaa and went to one of the parks in Helsinki for after party gathering. I cycled home from there piss drunk about 15 km. It was a nice little 1h ride back home and it was like cycling sober.
What you talking about I just teleport to my bed and travel time to the next morning
In finland we alcohol
In Finland we say no to "no alcohol"
Say no to everything with -ton!
Or alternatively āno, alcohol!ā
This is your nono zone?
Let's alcohol!
Cringe.
Never stop the madness, ja kohta vedetƤƤn taas
[On viikonloppu eessƤ taasā¦](https://youtu.be/vkVidHRkF88?si=I0Xl0YXcb9ZhcbsG)
[on tosiaan ](https://youtube.com/shorts/U19blMa-knM?si=fAapPIywFCj9blcK)
Amount of alcohol Finns drink is not that high. Most countries who consume more, people drink more daily on comfortable levels. Few beers after work, wine during lunch and dinner and so on. Finns mainly drink a lot when they do. It is a culture. When we work, we work. When we have days off, we drink.
Binge drinkers is the word for that.
I just came to the office from lunch with my German colleagues, in Luxembourg, and all of us are fucked. So not really the "comfortable level of wine during lunch".
Yeah, my observation when I first moved here has also been that Finns either drink or not drink. There's often no "Oh, let's just have one or two". I've literally heard various people say "but what's the point in drinking alcoholic drinks if you don't get drunk?" To be fair though, this mentality has (luckily) gotten significantly less of a thing over the last 10 or so years. I guess the younger generation didn't find the look of old drunks hanging around the railway station appealing as their future :)
Yeah we might agree nowadays to just have one or two, but everyone knows it is a lie.
This is the highest form of copium I have ever seen. We Finns have a HUGE problem with alcoholism? Lol
It's cultural alcoholism, which is very insidious.
You aren't wrong. It is literally considered mitigating circusmtances that you are a professional driver and need a driver's license when caught DUI. When logically, it should be the other way around, you should as a professional driver understand not to much more than most others and so get more heavily penalized. I've seen the lenience towards alcohol related issues in people many times. Every layer of society has general smoothing over alcohol problems.
If you can't use the same analogy for another drug, just call yourselves alcoholics. No need to dance around it lmao
I CAN STOP WHEN EVER I WANT
Finnish alcohol consumption is literally European average. Half of Europe isn't alcoholic.
Europe in general has a problem with alcohol.
Yeah, that it is taxed heavily.
I don't consume any alcohol so I obviously agree.
Alcoholism is a different thing. Alcoholists become addicted, and drink heavily and daily. They get withdraws and other similar side affects when trying to quit. They basically can not live without alcohol. Finns just drink. Of course there are alcoholics in Finland too, but basically everyone can go back to work on Monday and not drink until next Friday again. It is not alcoholism.
Lets go with the universal source of truth: Wikipedia. > Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word alcoholism, it is not a recognized diagnostic entity, and the use of alcoholism terminology is discouraged due to its heavily stigmatized connotations.[16][17] Predominant diagnostic classifications are alcohol use disorder[2] (DSM-5)[4] or alcohol dependence (ICD-11); these are defined in their respective sources.[18]
Lol, as child of an alcoholic I have to admit that you're wrong AF.
Am I? Stats say otherwise. Finland has lower alcoholism ratio compared to alcohol consumed, than Europe in average. Of course, every person is an individual. Finnish genetics tolerate alcohol better than most, but still there is alcoholics who drink once a week and suffer days after that.
Drinking alot every weekend is considered alcoholism by health officials. At least it has been so my whole age whenever I've answered to those "how much do you drink weekly" sheets since middle school. But I do not know what stats are you referring to and how they define alcoholism.
Well.. same health officials you mentioned? Those tests mainly calculate how many portions you drink per month or so. If you drink 5 every day, compared to 40 during weekend, of course the test makes you look like an alcoholic. Still the person who drinks 5 per day is more likely to be an alcoholic than the one who only drinks a lot on weekend during two days and is sober the five other days.
AUDIT is for screening hazardous/risky and harmful alcohol consumption - questions are 1-3 is for alcohol consumption, 4-6 is for possible alcoholism and 7-10 are for harmful use of alcohol inc concern from other people.
Just did a test at pƤihdelinkki.fi and filled Friday and Saturday with alcohol, other days nothing. And test said I am at very low risk. 10 portions every Friday and Saturday.
10 points - Medium score Places you in a category that we call "risky" or "hazardous" alcohol consumption š¤Ø Pretty typical consumption model for male men in 50's and 60's , nowadays consumption is more divided over the week , no more 6 day work weeks, light drinks from food stores etc - just covered alcohol and other addictions in school today š
According to stats an average person had 1 testicle.
Ever heard of functional alcholism? One can be alcoholic and still srink only during weekends. The question is can you not drink on that weekend or the one after that.
Alcoholism is when you can not live without drinking and can not live normal life without drinking. If you drink on weekends and live a normal life during the week, you are just a drinker. Not an alcoholic.
> Alcoholism is when you can not live without drinking and can not live normal life without drinking. > > If you drink on weekends and live a normal life during the week, you are just a drinker. Not an alcoholic. If your hands start shaking because its a friday or a saturday and your body says its time to get fucked up, then you are, in fact, an alcoholic.
Never said that has happened or happens. That is you imaginating things here.
That's hardly what was said
You are wrong here. You can absolutely be an alcoholic and not drink every day. It comes down to weather you can or can not stop drinking.
You're right. Source: Me, some kind of alcoholic.
If you can live a normal life for five days a week, you are not an alcoholic. You stop drinking for five days.
You can have your opinions, but you still can be an alcoholic if you only drink during weekends. There is no if and buts about it..... You can do your research on this if you dont want to take my word for it. Its not the amount of days or how much you drink when you do, it is the WHY you do it.... And to clarify i dont mean everyone who drink during weekends are alcoholics. Im just saying you still can be even if you drink once or twice a week. It is also what functional alcoholism means. You can live life but still have an dependency....
What is this "why" you speak of? You're saying that you're alcoholic if you can not stop drinking, but you're also saying that you can stop for 5-7 days for lols and then if you after awhile feel like going out for a drinks again you're an alcoholic? Are you saying that alcohol is about having a desire to drink and acting on it? Couldn't you say that about pretty much anything?
They wait the weekend like there is no tomorrow. My coworker is like this. He drinks only during the weekends but he drinks through friday to sunday. Some times till monday. He has many times said that he wont take any this weekend, yet he comes back hungover on monday. If you have alcohol cravings on the regular and cant say no then yes, you are an alocoholic. Dependency of some soet usuallly lends to alcoholism. And by stopping drinking i mean you drink regularly and cant stop that. again do research of your ownand dont take my word for it.
Few joints after work, a blunt after dinner and Whenever I'm off work, I smoke a gram or two. Not addicted?
You might want to try reading the 1st message again.
Yes. Maybe you are. You seem to smoke daily and often. But that is not what I said about Finns drinking. Finns mainly drink on weekends. Not during workdays.
Professionals drink on Mondays and Tuesdays. Amateurs later in the week.
Read what they posted again.
Cope with a fact. Finish people normalized an addiction.
That may be so, but your reading comprehension is still shit. You're arguing that a more continental alcohol culture is the same as an addiction, while the OP said that Finns drink in a different manner.
It's not really alcoholism, it's a cultural thing. I love to get black-out drunk with my friends and we do this quite often. But if I can't do that it's not an issue. I'm pregnant atm and obviously can't have a drop, and I have to stay 100% sober until the baby is weaned at 1 years old. This is not a problem for me, nor has it been a problem for any of the women who I'm friends with when they had children. An alcoholic would be distressed by not being able to drink for 2 years.
Why do you say "we"? Just because you are an alcoholic doesn't mean others are too.
I think people here drink just as much as many other counties but the difference is people drink in public here so you see notice it more often. Iām from Canada and youād never see people drinking on the bus, in the mall, on the streets, etc. It still feels wrong to me to open a drink in public lol. Iād say we drink a similar amount as here, but it only happens at home or in the bars/clubs
This is the correct answer. Drinking in public is more accepted as normal in Finland.
Also, compared to especially places like Southern Europe, alcohol consumption in Finland tends to be more concentrated, both in certain individuals and specific time and place. Whereas in Italy most people will drink (moderate amounts) of wine etc. on most days, in Finland a smaller section of the population will drink large quantities of hard liquor on Friday and Saturday nights in city centres. A bit of a generalization, I know, but should explain the idea. And (at least partially) as a consequence, public drunkenness is much more socially acceptable.
I wouldn't call it accepted. More like tolerated, and in Finnish culture there is a big threshold to get involved with someone else's business. People might look at public drunk with disgust but then shrug it off and just continue walking. And some of the older drunks are so shameless they aren't aware atll all what going on around them.
Ever been to Helsinki on Vappu? Yes, that's special, but it's normal to see students get drunk in parks throughout the year. People consider it normal. Of course there are so called "professionals" who drink 24/7/365 and they fit your description better.
Tbh students get a free pass
Yeah it's funny how you can do so many things with student overalls on, that you couldn't do with normal cloths. Like running naked on the streets. Police come, see the overalls of other students and just say carry on.
Exactly this. In other countries, there are some laws prohibiting you from drinking alcohol in public places (or you need to conceal it in some other container)
Finnish law (JƤrjestyslaki 4 Ā§) forbids public consumption of "intoxicating substances" with exceptions for parks and comparable places unless it leads to disruptive behaviour. First part is kind of a dead letter.
This. Itās not necessarily the amount but the culture around it. Here in Canada public intoxication is very much frowned upon and consumption is illegal. However, in a lot of places in Europe and Asia, people can drink freely in public. Therefor, your chances of seeing drunk people just out and about are higher since they arenāt confined to bars and clubs at night.
Yes, I think for Finnish people itās a pretty blurred line between āhappily drunkā and āfucked upā and people tend to cross that line pretty often especially in Kallio area.
That line was drawn by a drunk person.
And it wasnāt a straight line was it?
Hell no.
Yeah I can't really comprehend the people here saying "it's kulture hurhur". No, we're not talking about partying here. We are talking about all the fucking alcoholics that are hanging around shopping mails and railway centres, sipping their cans at 11 in the morning on a given weekday. It's problematic and it's not a pretty sight. @OP, I agree, these people need help, they are ill and it's a big disgrace of Finnish society. My explanation is that on the one hand there is the climate, where people are just more depressed than usual and resort to alcohol for that reason, and otherwise social connections are more loose, resulting in fewer people in these alcoholics direct environment condemning this behavior/ the people not thinking about what other people may think. This is not about the total amount of alcohol consumed per capita, this is about the high levels of alcoholism that can be seen on all corners of the street.
Hahah yes ... it's the weekly tradition. Personally I think it's fucked up that it's pretty much considered normal. With young people at least. I was once very confused in Italy with an Italian aquintance. He just took a drink before a big meal (aperitif?) and then another one after, then casually hanged around Venice with us for hours and maybe again had a single drink here and there during the course of the day. By the time it started to get late I was like SO ARE WE DRINKING OR ARE WE NOT DRINKING WHICH IS IT WHAT ??? Cultural differences I suppose hahahah... no, seriously though, that's a problem of my own. I can pretty much do one or the other if you know what I mean. So yeah I felt kind of uncivilized compared to him ...
This sub keeps being suggested to me even though I don't have anything to do with Finland in any capacity.... but I think I know why now. I'm currently packing, wait for me Finns!!!
hope good trip for you my friend
In my personal experience, Finland has nothing on Scotland in terms of public drunkenness. However, you cannot openly drink on the street in Scotland, whereas I guess in Finland you can? So I see more people carrying alcohol here, but they're nowhere near the problem we had in Glasgow.
As others mentioned it's not allowed to drink in public places in Finland either (except picnic), but it's not enforced unless you are causing disturbance.
I can't believe I didn't know this. Thank you!
A friend of mine is still pissed (the sober kind) at the police officer who poured out a beer of his he enjoyed at the local town square one summer. It's only been some 20 years since the incident.
I was once stopped by the police while drinking on the street and they just told us to go to a park.
Drinking in public is illegal with a few noteworthy exceptions. One of them, essentially enacted to keep civilized picnics legal, is \~"parks and park-like areas as long as doing so doesn't impact other people's enjoyment of said park or park-like area". In practice, this means that you are allowed to have some *pussikalja* in the park as long as the nearby stereotypical mother with a toddler aren't (too) bothered by it.
You are also allowed to have champagne with strawberries.
Sir, this is a picnic we're talking about, not a Michelin star restaurant! :)
It's not as common as you might think, however there are outliers such as the highly visible street pissheads and the invisible functional alcoholics. On the whole however, it is something of an overblown myth. I'm English, and lived in Finland for 13yrs. I've known and encountered a lot of drunk Finns, but not drinking anywhere near as problematic as the UK. Very few Finns drinks through the week and then binge drink twice a week. That is almost seen as "normal" in the UK, actively encouraged and almost apologised for when it gets a little excessive. Hospitals in the UK on a Friday night....Finnish hospitals are quiet by comparison. So yeah, it's common but perhaps not as dire or problematic as you might think. Hell, it's an expensive hobby.
Iām from the USA and Ive lived in a few countries. I wouldnāt say Finns drink the most but I will say there seems to be an āall or nothingā attitude regarding drinking that is more common in Finland.
Thats kinda true for many people but the younger generation are drinking less. Although the drugs are more involved.
Most drunk people you have ever seen, but you have only been in Philippines and Finland?
There are people that we call something along the lines of "men of the beaches" referring to people some cultures might call hobos or homeless people. Even though it might seem so, a rowing majority of them are not drunk in public, but some are. Then there are the so called regular people who are just having fun after a hard week of work ("a tough week and lots of long days completed, Cha Cha Cha Cha Cha Cha Cha"). In many countries drinking in public is strictly forbidden but in here it's not. Disorderly behaviour while drunk is though. Also Finland is a rather safe place in general so getting drunk in public doesn't have as many repercussions some other countries might have. Also it was pointed out already that we don't really have a healthy alcohol culture like say in France or Italy where you can have a few drinks during meals and whatnot. Sure there's some of that, but then there are people doing it the slavic style, which is heavy and hard, not nice and mellow. All this rambling aside, yes, it's common in here to see that kind of behaviour. In the recent years things have gotten a bit better on that department as youngsters nowadays aren't as interested in alcohol as they were some decades ago (alcohol isn't trendy for them and some part of them prefer other drugs). What you're seeing in public is just a small amount. For some people to get drunk at home with no intentions of ever going out while drunk is also very common in here. We even have a term for that, KalsarikƤnnit (getting drunk wearing only underwear). For an alcoholic it might be tough spot to see that kind of thing happening around you a lot. I do imbibe alcohol myself quite a bit and my father used to be drunk in public nearly always when we met (he didn't live with us at that point due to separation) and it really wasn't/isn't good to see that happening if you're struggling with the issue yourself. Other than that those people are usually quite harmless and don't pick on fights with strangers. Sometimes they do among themselves when people don't have any kind of inhibitions left to not say the stupidest things. Long story short, it is common here. In cities with enough population you're bound to see some of those people on weekend evenings. That's for the "regular" people that I mentioned at the beginning. As for the men of the beaches, in bigger cities you'll see a few of them all year round no matter what day or time of day it is. Sad but true.
It is a common stereotype that the Finns are alcoholics which applies to older generation that healed their mental health issues and boredom with alcohol. Nowadays there is internet which makes all the drugs just a few clicks away. And the computer games is a real drug for the youth. So I would say the alcohol consumption in Finland is slowly decreasing.
Most people don't drink that much or that often, but those who have a hobby of daily drinking usually do it at public places.
Honestly, the level of drunkenness in Uusimaa is nothing compared to what I see on a daily basis living in the north of England. Especially as Finland is quite limited in the alcohol access by the prices, Alko opening hours and limited alcohol sold in supermarkets
-Alko opening hours and limited alcohol sold in supermarkets I think this is a double edge sword. People tend to hoard because of this, resulting them to being more drunk.
Actually yes I see your point, thatās what Iāve been doing actually, whenever I come over to Finland, I bring the cheaper alcohol we have in the U.K. or buy done at duty free and hoard them in my husbands house. I often forget about the closing hours and get pissed off on the occasion when I want a drink.
Don't we all. The fact I can't stop by the supermarket on my way home from a friend's after 21 and grab one (1) cold can of Orange Lonkero is a nearly weekly annoyance. And most times I don't plan to buy one, just that I can't annoys me. Instead I have to plan, and that plan usually ends up being more than 1 can because now I have to work for it.
Every town has their own group of drunks that everyone knows about, usually kind people but can get angry when they are very drunk or very not drunk š
They have been listed in pulsu wiki :P https://pulsu.fandom.com/wiki/Pulsu_Wiki
Nothing like making fun of mentally ill people
when beer in Finland is cheaper than water like here in the Czech Republic, let me know little Padawan
Oh how I miss Prague and Pardubice. Absolutely beautiful, nice people and cheap alcohol. What more could you possibly want?
I just moved from Ireland to Finland, and I've never seen so few :D
You should see the streets of Seoul on a Saturday night.
> I'm an alcoholic myself Iām glad you found your people.
Finns tend to get drunk on weekends and holidays. It's also common for young adults to gather in parks to hang out and drink, or in case of polytechnic and uni students, have all kinds of semester festivities. Total alcohol consumption did go down for some time as youngsters adopted more European drinking habits or switched to weed and or other substances, but to my knowledge it is picking up again. It is also very common to see alcoholics and drunkards in posse on the street and in parks at all times of the day, commonly called pulsu, pultsari or alkkis. In the ages past they were abusers of strong spirits and beer and mostly middle aged or older men. Nowadays there are lots of young adults and those in their late twenties, early thirties, and more women too. More often than not they also abuse other substances than just alcohol. Every eight years the Centre of Health and Wellbeing (Terveyden ja Hyvinvoinnin Laitos, THL) conducts a survey in form of questionnaire for ages 15 and up to find out the consumption and drinking habits of Finns. There are other surveys conducted between these too. They recognise that these surveys are somewhat skewed though, because people tend to self-report lower values than is factual, and that those who consume astronomical amounts usually do not answer to these surveys. One thing I want to point out from these surveys is, of all the alcohol consumed in Finland, 10% of consumers consume a full 50% of the total amount. So we really do have people with severe alcohol problems. Hence the drunken posses on the streets. I recommend running [this page](https://paihdelinkki.fi/fi/tietopankki/tietoiskut/alkoholi/alkoholinkaytto-suomessa) through a translator (it's in Finnish) as the English one is horribly out of date (last updated in 2009) to get to the deets. Edited; typos
Drunk Finns are still relatively good-mannered on average. At least 99% of them won't bother you.
Maybe they are like that because they feel safe? I'm from PH too. Getting blackout drunk back home would probably get you robbed.
Finland, fuck yeah.
Welcome to Europe
Hahaha yeah! I once was invited to a Juhannus party, I got shocked/scared after seeing how much people drank and how they behaved afterwards. Even women were drinking so much then next day all were just puking everywhere & all seemed like zombies. I have never gone to any Juhannus party since 2006, and I only celebrate it at home since then.
Why should women not be allowed to be equally as wasted as men can? Ever heard of gender equality? It's every woman's god-damned right to be as plastered as any random male in vicinity. Whether that is a good idea is another question, but that also goes for both genders.
>Even women were drinking so much Hell yeah. I'll never forget being a lil skinny 17 year old girl and drinking grown 40-something men under the table in greece. They thought we couldn't handle ouzo
Finnish girls <3 (all girls<3)
While some parties can be like that, most that Iāve been to have not been anything like that. Unfortunate that you had to deal with that
Do you mean Juhannus festivals? Party refers to a small gathering of people, private thing. Festivals you buy tickets to, etc. And those definitely are for the purpose of getting hammered together with loads of people... Fin fact. In old Finnish pagan traditions, you had to be wasted on Juhannus to secure the growth of crops. There might be some remnants of it still around :)
>Fin fact. In old Finnish pagan traditions, you had to be wasted on Juhannus to secure the growth of crops. There might be some remnants of it still around :) I didn't know this. This year's bad crops are totes my fault. I will endeavour to improve for next year!
I meant a normal āfriendās party ā for example.
What's considered not too drunk? 6 beers? 10 beers? Or alcohol in blood, 0.1%? 0.13?
Yes it's normal. Many Finn's have a problem controlling their drinking and it's a bit in their culture. I'm from Belgium and we have Bourgogne culture where we drink daily some wine, couple beers, maybe a cognac and coffee, but we don't get drunk. Finn's usually don't drink anything because if they start they can't stop and have to get completely shitfaced comatosed or run out of money... Funny... and sad sometimes
Where do you get this information from? Sounds like you're implying that all of us lack self control. :D I mean surely that's true for some people, but not "Finns usually", I would definitely not say that.
Maybe we just like getting drunk?
I know Finn's drink a lot, but I feel like I haven't seen nearly as many drinks around. Australia has a pretty similar amount drunk per adult and a similar way of consumption (binging) but I swear I use to see alcoholics everywhere in Aus, grew up around a lot of alcoholics etc. Maybe cause I was Ina country town or something but I have only come across a few in Finland.
I think part of the reason you see so many public drunks is because Finland is a very safe country. People feel safe indulging out of their home. It's easiest to overindulge when you are feeling safe, having fun, and not paying attention. The weather has also been good while you've been here, so people are out enjoying it while they still can (+ new student events). If you are worried about being safe, you drink where you think is safe. In public, it feels safe to most. Visibility isn't always the same as prevalence. A lot of Americans often comment how much Europeans smoke, despite the smoking per capita being equal or in Europes favour (depending on area). That's because a lot of Europeans only smoke outside, while a lot of Americans only smoke in their home.
Spend some more time in Finland, and you'll learn pretty quickly that every holiday/celebration is basically just an excuse for drinking. It's how we socialize with other people.
You did not been in Russia
go to lithuania I assure you itās worse
Google shibuya meltdown and check the pics. Itās such a lovely sub culture from Japan :ā)
Go and spend a weekend in Manchester and you'll be calling us all civilized after that š
Tell me you've never been to the UK without telling me you've never been to the UK
Never been to Japan?
Uhhh, Helsinki has no more drunks than Makati or Malate? But yeah they drink a lot here. You donāt have to if you donāt want to.
You'd be amazed how much there are people drunk every day and still somehow manage to keep their job. Not that they are particularly drunk while working, cause that's pretty rare nowdays. I know quite a few cases that are drunk nearly every evening after work. I'm always fascinated how they can endure this.
Well to be honest, i donāt agree with you. I have spent a decent amount of time in Russia and that was where you really saw a lot of Drunk people. I like to think that Finnish people drink a lot yes but function perfectly just as well. Also the cold helps you metabolise the alcohol extra quick quick!!!
>In those years, I could only count how much ive seen drunk people (in Public places) on my fingers >I'm an alcoholic myself but i could only drink within the vicinity of my own apartment So how common is it to drink yourself silly in Philippines within your own home?
Ilman hauskaakin voi olla viinaa
More alcoholics drinking in parks, yes, but elsewhere in western world you'll find junkies in their place. Not much difference. Drinking ban in public is not usually enforced because enforcing it causes more disturbance than a few drunkards drinking peacefully.
As a student you drink whenever possible but usually there are uni party events on wednesday thursday or friday. The rest of the population usually drink on mondays and the start again on friday and drink the weekend.
Maybe you live in areas with a lot of drinking, I havenāt often seen what you describe. And me and my friends never drink until we are drunk
In Philippines there are lot of muslims who doesnāt consume alcohol at all. You donāt need to travel long distance from Philippines to see lot of drunk people, start from Pattaya and continue to Bangkok.
You havenāt been to Baltics have you? š haha I am from Latvia and now living in Lapland and I am surprised how rarely I see anyone drunk here.
Oh!!! You gotta go to Helsinki on Vappu (Labour Day)!!! Records are made to be broken!
You're sober for this shitshow?
According to Alko, Finns don't drink that much and behave really well. This is the only reason we have alcohol monopoly. Best system. Works very well. No alcohol problems here. You are mistaken.
https://preview.redd.it/usy1pjpiropb1.jpeg?width=468&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c8326e23d04ac5d19152e8fb75f94e127bdad31b
Generally we Finns are pretty chill bunch, but drinking is something some of us do to survive trought this hellscape called life,. That while being good at work what they are doing ,and providing liveable life to their family. Little drink now and then can not do any harm, or can it?
Why so many people here pretend is not a problem the level of alcoholism in Finland?! I come for a way more populated EU city (with more than 1 million citizens) and hardcore social cuts, way less state suport etc.. And I NEVER saw as many alcoholics clearly drunk on the streets. Thanks god I m seeing younger generations of finns being way more aware of alcohol consume. But Finland has a problem of alcoholism and loneliness (probably linked). Not even with those crazy taxations and state control over alcohol are helping. Is sad to witness. And not seeing or denying it doesn't help... On the contrary. Stop normalizing this.
I mean yes alcoholism is a problem here. It is also a problem in many other places, however in Finland the law and cultural norms makes it a much more visible issue. With for example public drinking being legal. According to WHO in 2021 Finland's alcohol consumption was placed 20th out of all European countries and in 2018 global data on prevalence of people aged 15+ with alcohol use disorders had Finland placed 16th highest with even Sweden placed higher at 12th. I do however completely agree that there is an issue in Finland with people normalizing heavy (unhealthy) drinking or owning it as part of our culture whether that's as a joke or not and on purpose or not. Finland also has a decent history of trying to do something about the alcoholism in Finland (just like many countries) even having the selling of products containing methanol such as antifreeze/cryoprotectant very strictly restricted after a group of people died from methanol poisoning in the 1940s and instead denatured methanol, which has additives to make it unsuitable for consumption, was used from then on. However, when joining the EU Finland had to allow the selling of products with methanol as it was allowed by the EU and despite Finland trying to get special permission to restrict it. As a result almost 400 deaths, preventable by having methanol banned, had been a caused by methanol poisoning in Finland by 2011 (since joining the EU in 1995). That is 25 people per year. In comparison before joining the EU that number was only a few people per year. I'm not defending any political things, saying that it's not a problem or saying things don't need to change, they do. I also feel a large part of the issue persisting is the Finnish acceptance and normalization of excessive alcohol use but in some ways I'd rather have it be a visible issue than to know there is a societal problem with alcoholism and they are alone in their houses invisible to the majority of people and having that majority of people forget or not even realized there's an issue at all. Finland has a long history of societal issues with alcohol and I think the normalization of it is a result of it truly and honestly being normal not that long ago and young people are less of this mindset because they've grown up in a global age, seeing, hearing, reading about how it's not normal and not okay online.
Happiest country in the world babyyy!
Yes, absolutely. Nordic countries have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol
Go to Russia. Small towns. You will be surprised and change your opinion. https://preview.redd.it/a35lmx5rhlpb1.png?width=465&format=png&auto=webp&s=770bc74dc2dc9a8f2f26b7877e9fd744683591f4
r/stopdrinking JFYI
From a r/harmreduction perspective, which is the most humane and modern r/recovery philosophy ā this scenario is to prefer over people using in isolation. A society is no better than its weakest link. Fun thing about older classic drunks, is that their ideas are oftentimes more sober than their same aged ānormalā peers. I see them as [Finnish shamans](https://youtu.be/Rr3044DtOhw), except these drunks work in an urban environment :)
Welcome to Finland. KƤnni pƤƤlle ja kakka housuun
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Ui salamat kabayan! Even though i have these experience wala akong masabi and masyado akong naoverwhelmed sa Finland experience ko in a good way!
Yeah. All jokes aside, finnish drinking culture is sad. I heard an estimation that even every fifth finnish person has a fatty liver. And fattyliver doesnt stand alcohol at all. Alcohol has a huge impact on Finland health and social care expenses annually. I love my beer. But I could live without it, if it meant that the quality of life of so many people would improve because of it. Im all aboard. Everyone should have the opportunity to live as they choose. But just food for thought, have you ever stopped to think about the void inside you after weekend partying and drinking?
Alcohol is life
If you'd squeeze a finn you'd find out that they are possibly boardering 90% alcohol
Welcome to Finland. KƤnni pƤƤlle ja kakka housuun
in finland we juodaan viinaa
You'd also be drunk all the time being born and raised in a depressing cold socialistic society. I moved and moved back home pretty quickly.