  Recent ALICE data for the multiplicity distributions in the central rapidity
bins at LHC energies are compared with the results from two default versions of
the PYTHIA 8 generator. We find that, contrary to the earlier versions of
PYTHIA, the model overestimates the increase of average multiplicity with
energy. Tuning two of the model parameters one obtains reasonable agreement
with data. The dependence of the normalized moments of the distribution on the
rapidity bin width and on energy is also qualitatively correct.
