Russian Men Aged 27 to 42 Dying at More Rapid Rates than During Soviet Times, Rosstat Figures Show

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 6 – A close examination of Rosstat death rate figures shows that Russian men between the ages of 27 and 42 have been dying at more rapid rates than their counterparts in the latter years of the Soviet Union, with the death rates peaking in the first years after 1991 and again between 2002 and 2007 (ss69100.livejournal.com/3981804.html).

            There has been a slight improvement in death rates among this cohort since 2008; but the rates are still above Soviet-era ones; and this loss of males in the early rather than later years of their working life exercises a powerfully negative impact on Russia’s demographic and economic situation and future.

            On the one hand, deaths in this age group depress the number of potential fathers or remove them from just-formed families, sparking any number of social problems in the absence of social supports. And on the other, it removes from the workforce many who have received the most recent schooling and thus those who can bring the most up-to-date skills to jobs.