Reasons for Russia's High Adult Mortality Rate: Correlations with Health Care, the Economy and Individual Behavior

Abstract

Russian men are over two and a half times more likely to die before 60 than are Russian women. Aggregate national indicators of state policy, health care and individual behavior are examined in a time-series analysis of male and female mortality rates from 1990 to 2008. Data come from the Russian State Statistical Office (Goskomstat) and the World Bank. There is a debate in both demographic literature and that on post-Soviet transition about changes in mortality in post-socialist society. Hypotheses about the relative impact of individual behavior such as alcohol consumption, the effect of changes to the healthcare system and economic stability are studied. A goal of this study is to understand the relative contribution of each factor to gender-based inequality in mortality rates. The findings show that the different types of variables - health care, the economy and human behavior - vary in their level of significance and in effect.