Population Crisis and Rising Mortality in Transitional Russia

Abstract

The understanding of the recent mortality crisis in Russia requires disentangling the relative impact of at least three factors namely: (1) the long-term trend; (2) the large fluctuations of the mid-1980s; and (3) the recent transition-related socioeconomic crisis. In many respects the changes of the 1990s represent the acutization of a long-term phenomenon. Yet with the onset of the transition the mortality increases have become much steeper and large deviations were recorded from the long-term trend. This chapter focuses on the features components and causes of the transitions mortality crisis. Its purpose is to discuss the state of knowledge in this field present stylized facts on the short- and long-term trends in this area discuss mortality differentials and test the explanatory power of alternative causal models. While the chapter sheds some light on the causal mechanisms behind the current crisis data limitations prevent arriving at a final and conclusive explanation of the phenomenon at hand. (excerpt)