Higher School Of Economics Research Articles

“Social Elevator”: Research of Affirmative Action Program

This work investigates the academic performance of students enrolled in the “Social Elevator” program at Higher School of Economics (HSE University), which operates under the principle of affirmative action and aims to assist those students who have lower chances of admission due to various social reasons in a highly competitive environment. Objective admissions in Russian universities and the high selectivity of the HSE University, discussed in this paper, do not confidently allow the application of conclusions from foreign studies to the Russian experience. The program had not been previously researched. It was assumed that students of the program would show higher performance than their peers admitted on a general basis – this assumption follows from qualitative research that found that students of this program possess a progressive narrative of overcoming inequality. Regression with dummy variables based on administrative data on student performance and survey data on the socio-economic status of students are used for the analysis. According to the regression analysis results, all else being equal, students of the “Social Elevator” program demonstrate lower performance than students admitted on budgetary places on general grounds, although they average grades at the “good” level and therefore have a chance to get a return to education and overcome inequality. Further research on the topic is required to separate the secondary effects of inequality, as well as to assess the actual social mobility of students participating in the program. The results can be useful in designing educational policy in the field of expanding access to higher education.

Subjective well-being indices in assessing happiness in Russia

Due to the multidimensionality and dynamism of today’s social life, there emerges the need to modify the principles of measuring the effectiveness of socio-economic policy. The article empirically tests and analyzes subjective metrics focused on “failures” in the socio-economic development which are impossible to identify through objective indicators only. These metrics are the subjective well-being indices for the Russian population in terms of gender and age, residence (by federal districts), level of education, marital status, presence of children, subjective health assessments, job and pay satisfaction. The methodological framework resides in Edward Diener’s subjective well-being theory. The method of index numbers and methods of descriptive statistics, including the multivariate frequency distribution of two attributes, are applied. The evidence base is comprised of panel data of The Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey – Higher School of Economics (RLMS-HSE) for 2013–2022. According to the research results, the minimum and maximum values of the life satisfaction index were observed in 2016 and 2022, respectively. The affective index of happiness was found to reach higher values compared to the cognitive assessment of it. The findings show that gender, age, region of residence, level of education, as well as satisfaction with health, job, wage and financial status affect the values and dynamics of happiness indices in Russia. A well-being measurement approach covering both objective and sub jective assessments of people’s life and its individual aspects allows identifying gaps in the system of socio-economic support for the population.

Socio-Economic Determinants of the Physical Activity Intensity in Russia

The study examines the socioeconomic, demographic and health determinants of physical activity intensity in Russia. Using RLMS-HSE (the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey – Higher School of Economics) data for 2021 and indicators of six levels of physical activity intensity, the authors built ordered probit models and calculated average marginal effects for a set of covariates. The independent variables were selected based on the SLOTH microeconomic model describing individual preferences towards physical activity.The ordered probit regression provided empirical support for Meltzer and Jena's theoretical framework, stating that as income increases, with the pronounced substitution effect, the time spent on physical activity decreases, and the intensity of physical activity rises. In our study, the thesis about an increase in intensity with rising income was confirmed for a subsample of men but not women. For women, the intensity was determined by factors such as multiple morbidity and residing outside of Moscow or Saint Petersburg, which were not significant in the regressions for men.The study resulted in several important conclusions. The intensity analysis showed that physician recommendations regarding the type of physical activity should consider patients' workload. For individuals with a busy schedule, recommended types of exercise that require a long time (for example, walking) are not suitable. At the same time, intense workouts (such as tennis or gym classes) can be built into the schedule. There is a need to develop sports infrastructure at workplaces, allowing individuals to allocate time for classes without bearing additional time and monetary costs associated with travel to the location of workouts. As income increases, exercising near the workplace allows an individual to increase the intensity of physical activity without incurring additional time costs

Formation of new health care practices: what sociology [does not] see

The article was prepared for the 50th anniversary of the journal “Sociological Studies”. An array of articles (N = 29) on the topic of health care norms and practices published in the journal from 2010 to 2023 was analyzed. To validate the research presented in the publication and the results of qualitative content analysis, data from eight public opinion surveys were analyzed by the ZIRCON research group and the Higher School of Economics, conducted as part of various projects in 2010– 2023, including those with authors participation (five of them represent the population of the Russian Federation, three relate to individual regions and cities of Russia). Along with the identified thematic gaps in the field of modern sociology of health, it has been ascertained that the studies complement each other and make it possible to build a logic for the presentation of the health care topics covering all its main links.

Happy People in Russia: The Role of Economic and Social Capital

Amid conditions of global instability in recent years, approximately one-tenth of the residents of Russia consistently report high levels of subjective well-being. The aim of this article is to analyze the socio-demographic characteristics of the “happy and satisfied” segment of Russians and the influence of economic and social capital on their high level of affective and cognitive components of subjective well-being. This study is based on data from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey – Higher School of Economics (RLMS-HSE), with surveys conducted from 2016 to 2020. For the purposes of analysis, a stable segment of "fully satisfied with life" and "very happy" Russians (10–12% of 5–6 thousand respondents annually) was selected from the sample array. Economic capital in the study is measured through indicators such as absolute income, assessment of material well-being and remuneration, and perception of economic inequality, while social capital is measured through the structure, intensity, and quality of social connections and the nature of group identity. The analysis of the empirical data shows that people who are fully satisfied with life and happy are aged 25–34, married, have children, and possess average incomes. Low incomes are associated with subjective disadvantage, but for maximum happiness and life satisfaction, it is quite enough to have an average income level. Additionally, the cognitive component of subjective well-being assessments is more related to material and financial factors than the affective component. It is demonstrated that high levels of subjective well-being are more influenced by parameters of social, rather than economic, capital. Representatives of the predominantly happy segment of Russians communicate more frequently with family members and friends, care for young children or grandchildren, and feel a sense of belonging to broader social communities (professional, national, or territorial).

Уровни цифрового неравенства: особенности проявления в Уральском федеральном округе

Introduction. Access to information, digital products and services contributes to reducing barriers in individual’s interaction with state, organizations, and other individuals, also providing opportunities for human development. The author assesses the digital inequality level of the constituent entities of the Ural Federal District.Materials and methods. Theoretically, the research is based on the concept of three levels of digital inequality, according to which inequality can be manifested at the level of access to Internet and information and communication technologies; at the level of the users’ digital skills and competencies; at the level of benefits obtained from the use of digital technologies and impacting individual life chances. The materials used are: statistical data of the Russian information society development monitoring, research on the digital literacy of the Russian population, conducted by the Analytical Center of the National Agency for Financial Research, the Russian Association of Electronic Communications, the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation and the National Research University “Higher School of Economics”, as well as the results of an expert survey conducted by the author in 2023 with state civil servants of the Sverdlovsk region and employees of “Electronic government operator”, the state budgetary institution of the Sverdlovsk region.Results. The article reveals the specific features of digital inequality of the entities of the Ural Federal District. The geographical features of the region paradoxically affects the digital inequality level. The more compactly located territories of the Sverdlovsk, Tyumen and Chelyabinsk regions provide for the appropriate infrastructure with better broadband Internet access. A social consequence of low Internet access in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug is, in part, that not all medical organizations can be connected to the Integrated National Health Information System. In addition, there is no direct correlation between Internet access and digital skills development. On the contrary, remoteness and inaccessibility of territories act as drivers for the development of digital competencies of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and Yugra residents, who are more efficient in using digital technologies in e-commerce and public services.Discussions and conclusions. “Bridging the Digital Divide” federal program implementation will increase the information infrastructure availability. Conscious and focused effort is required to improve digital literacy and cyber hygiene of the population.

The cost to education development: A personal story

This personal narrative details the experiences of the founding director of the Institute of Education at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, reflecting on the development of educational precedents in post-Soviet Russia. The text outlines the establishment and rise of a few new innovative educational organizations, marking their impact through innovative practices rather than conventional policy reforms. The author argues that creating educational precedents—specific, practical examples of successful education strategies—is more resilient and effective than broad policy reforms or regulatory innovations. These precedents, once established, tend to endure through their intrinsic merits and practical success, despite shifting political landscapes and regulatory environments. The personal story underscores the complex interplay between educational innovation and political reaction in Russia.

Employing gamification strategies to prepare school students for journalism competitions

This paper aims to conduct a thorough analysis of the effectiveness of incorporating gamification elements in the preparation of school students for journalism competitions. The authors have examined eighteen competitions facilitated by prominent institutions including the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE), Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov (MSU), and Saint Petersburg State University (SPbSU). Drawing from openly available sources, a classification of seven gamification formats for student preparation has been proposed: quizzes, interactive storytelling, games employing virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR), process tracking, role-playing games, textual expansions, and games that utilize artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. Furthermore, the authors have delineated the primary stages of the journalism competitions, which are categorized into theoretical and practice-oriented segments. The theoretical segment encompasses tasks in a test format that assess basic factual knowledge, while the practice-oriented segment comprises written tasks. These tasks are designed to evaluate the students’ proficiency in creating and writing informational materials, encompassing mastery of text style, literacy, and structured logical narration. The results indicate that gamification not only enriches the educational landscape, rendering learning more engaging and interactive, but also significantly enhances students’ proficiency in refining complex journalistic skills.

Trust as a Determinant of Subjective Well-Being in Russia

The article considers social trust as a key element in the structure of social capital. Based on the results of international and Russian research, the role of trust in socioeconomic development and its impact on subjective life satisfaction is revealed. We discuss the circumstances of the “trust deficit” as a possible reason for Russia’s significant lag behind the leading countries in world happiness ratings. The data sources for our empirical research are the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey – Higher School of Economics (RLMS-HSE) and the World Values Survey. In our empirical analysis, special attention is paid to overcoming the problem of endogeneity, which arises as a result of two-way causal relationships between trust and happiness. The hypothesis of a significant positive effect of generalized social trust on life satisfaction in Russia is confirmed by the results of econometric modelling. Our results fit into the broad context of international studies of the social capital impact on subjective assessments of the quality of life. Based on Russian data, we confirm the conclusion that the impact of increasing social capital on subjective well-being across the whole society is strongly positive. The conclusion of our work concerns the possibility of raising the subjective well-being of Russians by improving informal institutions by means of social trust strengthening.

Как удовлетворённость жизнью зависит от типа населённого пункта?

Life satisfaction is a multidimensional indicator that is influenced by many factors. Studies of national life satisfaction factors provide adequate estimates when countries are homogeneous “macroregions” with common social, cultural, and institutional foundations. However, within large and heterogeneous national states, of which Russia is one, internal regional differences in living conditions can be significant, which means that assessments of happiness levels are dominated by various factors, including the type of human settlement and its inherent characteristics. The conducted research is deepening the understanding of the factors that have a significant impact on subjective life satisfaction in various types of settlements in Russia - cities, towns, and villages. The Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey - Higher School of Economics (RLMS-HSE) was used as the data source. Econometric modeling is based on an ordered logit model with random effects using panel data. We discovered the high significance of subjective evaluation of wealth satisfaction, worried needs, and availability of paid vacations for all Russians, regardless of the type of settlement. The main differences in the set and degree of influence of factors lie along the line separating the values of collectivism and individualism, which are dominant in cities and villages, respectively. There is less concern about health and the possibility of job loss among rural residents reliant on the support of neighbors and family, in which men do not associate life satisfaction with the duration of the working day, and women do not associate life satisfaction with the amount of wage and maternity. In contrast, individualistically oriented residents of cities where nuclear families predominate and connections among people are weak tend to derive life satisfaction from self-realization through earnings, leisure, children, and health care.

Statistical Analysis of Ineqality and Poverty with Under-Reporting Incomes of Russian Households

The subject of the article is the study of inequality and poverty, taking into account under-reporting household income. The purpose of the research was to estimate the under-reporting incomes of households and their impact on the smoothing income inequality and poverty based on representative data of the All-Russian Survey of Consumer Finance (2013, 2015, 2018, 2020 and 2022). It is relevant to analyze changes in inequality for individual population groups, as well as the contribution to inequality of individual sources of income, including those hidden from statistical observation. The novelty of the study is the obtained estimates of under-reporting household income, as well as the results of an analysis of their impact on smoothing income inequality and poverty based on the specified dataThe methodology included the use of econometric modeling according to the Pissarides – Weber approach, as well as decomposition of the Gini elasticity by income sources based on the Lerman – Yitzhaki algorithm. The results of estimations differ from those previously obtained according to the data of the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey – Higher School of Economics. The resulting share of under- reporting income in the disposable resources of households averaged about 20% for 2013 to 2022 and decreased by 2,3% on average per year. Decomposition of the Gini index by income sources led to the conclusion that the main contribution to inequality was made by the non-poor population. Calculation of Gini income elasticities by income sources for poor and non-poor households (taking into account the imputed component of under-reporting income) revealed their differently directed impact on inequality. Wages and social transfers increase inequality among the poor and do not increase inequality among non-poor households. Estimating under-reporting income was higher for the group of poor households. At the same time, this component increased inequality in the post-crisis year 2015 and in the pandemic year 2020 for the group of non-poor households. The obtained results will provide important information to social policy makers, taking into account the influence of under-reporting income` on the poverty reduction and equalization of the standard of living of the Russian population

Философия как призвание и профессия: история становления философа в России, рассказанная от первого лица

This essay is a recollection of my years of study at Moscow State University and the beginning of work at the Higher School of Economics, as well as a reflection on the current period and state of philosophy in Russia in general. The purpose of this essay is an attempt to reflect on one’s belonging to a certain generation of philosophers, comparing it with past and future generations, as well as an attempt to trace the successive thread of generations. Using the example of my own apprenticeship, as well as teaching, the distinctive features of each new stage in the formation of philosophy in Russia are shown. Based on personal experience, the similarities and differences between Russian and foreign practice of teaching philosophy, as well as working in the academy as a professional philosopher, are thought through. The influence of the most significant and key studies and researchers on my philosophical perception, as well as on the formation of my generation of philosophers, is traced. The names and faces represent the characteristic spirit of a certain philosophical era, the most valuable and defining relationships for the author with colleagues and friends, the most important and promising projects and joint endeavors are recalled.

Transformation of Value Orientations of Russian Youth: on the Issue of Stability of Russia Against the Background of Confrontation with the Countries of the World of the West

Relevance. The ongoing confrontation between Russia and Western countries makes the study of the role of youth and youth public organizations in the stability of the socio-political and social development of our country more and more relevant. Taking into account the ongoing events, it is necessary to consider the process of transforming the value orientations of modern Russian youth and its impact on the stability of our country and the activities of youth public organizations.The purpose – to carry out a comparative analysis of the value orientations of Soviet/Russian youth and the trends of their development since the end of the XX century to the present and their impact on the stability of Russia against the background of confrontation with the countries of the Western world.Objectives: analyze the historical orientation of the value orientations of young people in the late USSR; carry out an analysis of the value orientations of the youth of the new Russia (1991-2000); consider the consequences of the transformation of value orientations of young people for the stability of Russia (2000-2023).Methodology. We used data from Rosstat on demography, secondary analysis of data on the results of research by the WCIOM Sociological Service (1992-2023), the Center for Labor Research of the Higher School of Economics (HSE) on youth issues, analysis of scientific materials published in scientific journals, historical documents of the period under study, methods of comparison and analogy.Results. Since the 80s of the XX century, the value orientations of domestic youth have been transformed towards the Western cult of consumption, which was the basis for various negative manifestations, participation in the destructive protest activities of individual youth public organizations. The situation began to change in the early 2000s, when more and more young people began to think about the need to restore traditional moral norms and values. The coronavirus pandemic and a special military operation in Ukraine had a particularly serious impact on the transformation of the value orientations of modern youth.Conclusions. The transformation of the value orientations of modern Russian youth towards a return to traditional values is a positive factor for the stability of the development of our country.

Rationale for the feasibility of developing a web application for aggregator of travel services

The article examines issues related to the feasibility of developing a web application that will combine tourism services and offer the user various services related to excursions. The introduction provides current statistical data on the development of the tourism industry based on research from the Higher School of Economics and the statistical bulletin of Rosstat. Arguments and reasoning in favor of the digital development of this area are presented. As part of the analysis of the feasibility of the development, the volume of the tourism services market in the Samara region was calculated. The volume of the tourism services market was calculated using 4 indicators: PAM, TAM, SAM, SOM (data for calculations was taken from official sources of Rosstat and the Ministry of Tourism). After analyzing the calculated indicators, a conclusion was made about the prospects of the tourism services market. A business model for the development of the application being developed based on lean canvas has been drawn up, and the rationale for the primary hypotheses is briefly described. Based on this table, a product development strategy is built. The criteria for analogues of the product being developed are described. An analysis of indirect and direct competitors, travel portals and applications was carried out. Direct competitors are products that provide services to the user in the field of excursions, attractions, etc. The positive and negative aspects of analogues are presented. An analysis of popular operating systems that are used by consumers was carried out. The difficulties of implementing a cross-platform application that runs on any personal device are described. Arguments are given in favor of developing a product based on a web platform. The results of the study allowed us to draw a conclusion about the situation in the tourism services market, the development of a competitive web application, and potential loyal customers. The possible practical benefits of market analysis and gradual product development are described.

Digital Platforms As a New Interaction Environment: Review of the Scientific and Practical Seminar and Results of the Expert Survey

The article provides an overview of the scientific and practical seminar “Digital platforms as a new interaction environment” held on April 23, 2024 at the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation and the results of the expert survey. The seminar was attended by representatives of Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation, Kutafin Moscow State Law University, National Research University “Higher School of Economics”, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Siberian Federal University, National University of Oil and Gas “Gubkin University” and others. The presentations of the seminar participants are systematized according to the most relevant thematic blocks related to the functioning of digital platforms: general issues of legal regulation of digital platforms; the impact of digital platforms on human rights; digital platforms in public administration; digital platforms in private law, criminal law and other spheres. The following legal issues are highlighted: the essence of the digital platform from the perspective of law; the impact of digital platforms on the economy, public administration, human rights and changes in their scope and content; risks arising from the activities of digital platforms; digital platforms and antitrust regulation; network effect in the activities of digital platforms; labor relations using digital platforms; protection of labor rights and digital platforms; the risk of discrimination related to the activities of digital platforms.

Październik 1956 roku w Wyższej Szkole Ekonomicznej w Sopocie i Wyższej Szkole Pedagogicznej w Gdańsku

The Higher School of Economics in Sopot and the Higher School of Pedagogy in Gdansk were universities established just after World War II and strongly ideologized in the 1950s. The purpose of this article is to reconstruct the events that took place during the October transition at both universities and also to identify the changes these events led to at party meetings. The introduction discusses the history of the WSE in Sopot and the WSE in Gdansk from the time of their establishment until 1956 and outlines the elements of ideological pressure applied to employees and students. An analysis of the minutes of university bodies (staff meetings, Senates) and party bodies at the universities (POP and KU PZPR) and above the universities (KM PZPR in Sopot, KW PZPR in Gdansk), memoirs of students and employees, and newspaper articles were used to achieve the goal. The changes that took place at the universities were primarily concerned with democratization, greater openness in discussion (while remaining faithful to broad Marxist ideology), changes in the conceptual instrumentarium and criticism of both the USSR and national and university authorities. Virtually all groups comprising the WSE and WSP academic community were involved in the 1956 changes, albeit to varying degrees and in different forms. Employees were more involved at meetings of university and party committees, while students were involved at rallies and in the forums of youth organizations.

Modeling the influence of social factors on the dynamics of gray wages

The problem of whitewashing wages of a significant share of Russians escalated during the pandemic, post-covid recovery and, especially, against the background of geopolitical shocks. The unprecedented expansion of state support measures provided targeted and officially has prompted entrepreneurs and citizens to get out of the shadows. Despite the obvious positive changes, the problem of salaries “in envelopes” has not eradicated itself: in modern publications, scientists return to it repeatedly. When assessing this socio-economic phenomenon, science relies mainly on methods of regression, panel analysis, instrumental variables, etc. In this work to assess the influence of social factors on the dynamics of gray wages we used the gradient boosting method, linear modeling, random forest and a naive Bayesian classifier. As the initial information, we used the results of the surveys of the Russian Monitoring of the Economic Situation and Health of the Population by Higher School of Economics, which are freely available. The result of the simulation is the dependence of the receiving wages method (official, “in an envelope”) on a number of factors. The organization’s industry affiliation, size, ownership, employee’s education, duration of vacation, satisfaction with professional growth and working conditions have the strongest influence. The applied value of the results obtained is the possibility of generating control effects, both at the state level and at the level of business entities in the direction of leveling the identified reasons for receiving gray salaries and reducing the scale of the hidden wage fund.

Teachers on the Move: Understanding the New Model of Virtual Mobility Through the Case Study of a Russian University

Virtual mobility has emerged as a new tool for the internationalization of higher education with the advent of information and communication technology in the current scenario. With the outbreak of COVID-19, the landscape of global higher education has altered significantly. In that situation, when physical academic mobility became impossible, the Higher School of Economics, one of the leading universities in Russia, ran a unique digital internship programme for teaching staff from regional universities. In the logic of the digital identity model and push–pull model, the present research has analysed the profiles and motivation letters of 398 teachers from 73 Russian universities which took part in 15 internship programmes since March 2020. The present study fills a gap in the literature by examining how motivation and reasons for participation in virtual mobility may trigger the reduction of inequality in higher education. The findings of the present study revealed that the main reasons highlighted by the teachers for taking part in virtual internship programmes are mostly external and connected with the current tasks imposed by the Ministry of Higher Education and University management. Internal reasons are true mostly for teaching track when teachers are the agents of creating modern pedagogical methods for their courses. Thus, university teaching staff do not feel themselves as the drivers of change. The environment at the higher education level is not ready yet for significant changes.

Численность обучающихся в системе высшего образования: статистический анализ данных по Республике Калмыкия на фоне общероссийских данных

Education is the most important indicator of the development of the country and its regions. The sustainability of regional development directly depends on the intellectual potential of the region. The purpose of the article, based on the analyzes of the statistical data on the number of students in the higher education system, is to consider the problems and trends in the development of higher education in the country as a whole and in the Republic of Kalmykia in particular. Materials and methods. The following materials were used when writing the article: statistical data from the Ministry of Higher Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Federal State Statistics Service, statistical (analytical) reviews of the Institute of Statistical Research and Economics of knowledge of the National Research University “Higher School of Economics”. The methods of system-structural and statistical data analysis were applied in the study. Results. Statistical data reflect the social and economic processes taking place in the society. The data reviewed on the number of higher education institutions, their forms of ownership, the number of students and their preferred forms of education showed that in recent years the country has been experiencing the process of increasing the state control in the field of higher education expressed in the reduction of the number of universities, especially private ones, as well as in the reduction of the number of their branches, etc. In Kalmykia, as well as in the country as a whole, the number of students decreased between 2018 and 2022. Also in the republic, as well as in the country, after the active growth of the number of non-governmental higher education institutions and their branches in the early 2000s, already in 2014–2015 their quantity decreased sharply. There is also a tendency in the region to reduce the number of full-time students while increasing the number of part-time students. At the same time, the number of students studying by correspondence throughout the country is decreasing. Statistics have shown that the number of correspondence students is growing at the expense of students from the neighboring regions that can be explained by the low cost of the tuition.

Medical activity of middle-aged Russians in the «pre-pandemic» and «pandemic» periods

Introduction. Solving the health saving problem of middle-aged people in a risk social context is impossible without increasing the level of their medical activity, as well as forming a value attitude to health.
 Material and methods. The study was conducted on the data of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey of the National Research University “Higher School of Economics” for 2018–2021. The analysis of statistical data was carried out using the methods of descriptive statistics and correlation analysis, the calculation of the odds ratio and cluster analysis were carried out.
 Results. Middle-aged Russians are characterized by a low level of medical activity, which is due to their health status. Gender has an impact on the indicators of medical activity: men demonstrate a lower level of medical activity, despite low health indicators. In modern conditions, models of medical activity are varied: from passive practices without prevention to highly active practices combined with preventive examinations. An “inconsistent” model of medical activity with a predominance of self-treatment practices without preventive motives for visiting a doctor is the most common pattern during the COVID-19 pandemic.
 Limitations. When studying the medical activity of middle-aged Russians in the “pre-pandemic” and “pandemic” periods, 17,631 questionnaires were evaluated during 2018–2021, which is sufficient to achieve the set goal. This study has limitations related to the survey period: data is not available after 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic has officially ended in May 2023.
 Conclusion. Insufficient medical activity of the middle age group of the population, especially during crises (including during the pandemic), presents itself as a risk factor for health loss, reduces the ability of institutional medicine to diagnose diseases at an early stage. The predominance of attitudes towards maintaining employment and income among middle-aged people, as well as an independent search for information on the Internet to resolve health issues, increases commitment to self-treatment practices.