Analysis of life expectancy in Russian regions

Abstract

This study deals with the analysis of the factors that determine life expectancy in Russia at the macro level. Among the available statistical indicators, those were selected that can be considered as a macroeconomic alternative to the basic microeconomic determinants affecting the life expectancy of an individual. As a result of the regression analysis, significant indicators were identified, which included the marriage rate, the unemployment rate, the number of students, the number of hospital beds, the gross regional product, budget expenditures on health care, and the region’s subtropical climate. A cluster analysis of the regions was also carried out for these indicators, with the exception of the last one, and it was shown that the regions are distributed into 5 clusters. The cluster, which includes Moscow and St. Petersburg, where there is a high life expectancy due to the metropolitan area of these regions and good medicine, is singled out separately. The regions of the North Caucasus are also characterized by high life expectancy, but here it is due to completely different reasons: religious and climatic features. The Tyumen, Magadan, Sakhalin regions and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug are united into a separate cluster. These regions are characterized by the highest GRP, but low life expectancy and the lowest number of students.