although alcohol abuse has a major impact on the mortality pattern of northern regions in general it has had a particularly significant impact on indigenous peoples with levels of alcohol use atypically high among women for instance in the berezovo region of the khantymansi autonomous district in out of deaths among indigenous peoples excluding infants one third were associated with alcohol while the rate of alcoholrelated deaths was per cent in nonindigenous population alcoholrelated deaths in women were five times higher among the indigenous peoples than among russian northerners in the chukchi autonomous district alcohol caused per cent of indigenous womens deaths white alcohol caused per cent of deaths of nonindigenous women even when it does not end in human losses alcohol consumption leads to economic losses which directly or indirectly decrease life quality the rate of death resulting from external causes among indigenous northerners is more than twice the russian average