Up to 97% of Armenians follow Christianity, which has existed in Armenia for over 1,700 years. Armenia has its own church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, which most Armenians follow. Christianity has a strong influence in the country, but there is a small presence of other religions too.
Armenians drink copious amounts of alcohol, as much as in other CIS countries, but-aside from the trendy bar scene in Yerevan (which are as alcohol and drug laden as any venue in the world), you rarely see the kind of drunken behavior associated with Russia or other ex-Soviet states.
The social and economic upheavals that followed the earthquake of 1988 combined with the political collapse of the Soviet Union to create a catastrophic public health situation in Armenia.