LIFE EXPECTANCY IN THE SIBERIAN FEDERAL DISTRICT AND IN THE IRKUTSK REGION IN 1990-2018: TRENDS AND PECULIARITIES

Abstract

Introduction: Life expectancy is widely used as an indicator of socio-economic development of territories and public health in general. Aim: To study secular trends and peculiarities of life expectancy in the Irkutsk region and in the Siberian Federal District from 1990 to 2018. Methods: Data on life expectancy for all regions included in the Siberian Federal District (Siberian FD) were obtained from Rosstat and from the Center for Demographic Research of the Russian School of Economics. Linear regression was applied to study trends in life expectancy. Results: There was a consistent improvement in the demographic situation in Russia 2006 to 2018 caused by decreasing mortality and increasing life expectancy. On the national level, life expectancy increased from 66.7 to 72.9 years. The corresponding data for Siberian FD were 64.6 and 70.7 years while in the Irkutsk region the increase was from 62.9 to 69.3 years. Similar patterns were observed in all FDs, but the improvements in the demographic indicators were less pronounced in the Eastern regions of the country. Life expectancy in the Irkutsk region and the Siberian FD remained lower compared to other FDs except for the Far Eastern District over the study period. Significant linear increase in life expectancy was observed in regions with coefficient of determination ranging from 0.960-0.989, p < 0.001 for all tests. In 2018, the annual increase in life expectancy dropped from 0.3-0.9 to 0.1-0.2 years. Conclusions: Our findings suggest less favorable state of public health in the Siberian FD and in the Irkutsk region compared to the other FDs and the national average. These findings are in line with the conclusions from earlier studies performed by the authors about lower quality of the life of the population in Siberia than in Russia in general.