Russia: Then and Now
In 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed and splintered into 15 countries. Russia, the largest of the former Soviet Union countries, has experienced dramatic changes in the health and well-being of the population. Environmental degradation is wide spread in the country, alcoholism and smoking are major public health problems and income disparity is increasing in Russia.
The Russian population is declining due to low fertility and high mortality. In 1991 the Russian population stood at 148 million but had declined to 142 million by 2008. The birth rate of Russia rose from its lowest point of 8.27 births per 1000 people in 1999 to a rate of 12.1 per 1000 in 2008. The fertility rate of Russia (number of children per woman) rose from its lowest point of 1.16 in 1999 to 1.49 in 2008. For comparison, the US birth rate was 14.16 per 1000 in 2007.
While the Russian birth rate is currently comparable to that of other European countries, its death rate is much higher, especially among working-age males due to a comparatively high rate of fatalities caused by heart disease and the high rates of alcoholism, smoking, HIV, and other external causes of death. Alcohol consumption has risen from 7.5 liters per person to 10.5 annually.
The Russian death rate in 2008 was 14.6 per 1000 citizens. For comparison, the US death rate in 2008 was 8.26 per 1000. Life expectancy at birth has fallen from 67.8 in 1991 to 67.5 a small decline but no other developed country has experienced a decline in life expectancy. In contrast all western countries continue to experience an increase in life expectancy.
One factor for the high mortality is the increase in the number of people that the UN reports are diagnosed with a serious disease. Despite a smaller population base almost 10 million more people have a serious disease (from 91million to 109 million). However, there are almost 50% fewer hospitals to treat seriously ill Russians today than before the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.
These demographic changes will affect Russia’s ability to produce the necessary economic growth to reduce the wide spread poverty and income disparity in the country.
