Alcoholism in Romania in the Late Nineteenth Century and at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century

Although alcohol consumption has been described from the earliest times, alcohol abuse has grown significantly since the mid-nineteenth century as a consequence of the industrialization progress. Due to the socio-economic profile of Romania, which was considered to be agrarian, the idea of developing mainly the industry branches belonging to agriculture was considered. Amongst these branches, the production of alcohol appeared to be the most appropriate. The political state leaders from Romania enjoyed the taxes collected from alcohol commercialization, disregarding the costs involved in alcoholism which went far beyond them.