Russian Death Rate Almost Twice As High As in West
MOSCOW, Nov. 13, 1998 -- (Agence France Presse) Russia's mortality rate is almost twice as high as that of Western industrialized countries, Interfax news agency reported Thursday, citing the nation's health minister.
Russians were anywhere from 50 percent to 100 percent more likely to die prematurely than inhabitants of Western countries, he said.
The escalating death rate, combined with a reverse trend in births, have together compounded Russia's chronic population slump in recent years, Vladimir Starodubov told parliament.
He cited an annual "natural decrease" in the population of about 5.2 per thousand.
The current negative population trends in Russia began around the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, since which time most Russians have experienced a catastrophic drop in living standards and the near total disappearance of social welfare.
As the health care system collapsed and access to medicines declined, the number of infectious diseases, notably tuberculosis, rose sharply. Russia witnessed a 9 percent rise in registered tuberculosis cases between 1996 and 1997, Starodubov said.