Research: Russia was in 1st place in reducing life expectancy in a pandemic

The Russian Federation was in 1st place in the world in reducing the life expectancy of the population due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. At the same time, the country has the highest mortality rate among people under 65 years of age. An international group of researchers informed about this, having published their report in the British weekly peer-reviewed scientific (medical) journal The BMJ.

Previous observations have already shown a decrease in life expectancy from a dangerous infection in the United States, Great Britain, Spain and other countries. But a group of scientists, which also includes specialists from the Russian Higher School economics (HSE) decided to check the data more closely, as the accuracy and completeness of previous studies was questioned in many countries.



The researchers explained that after the emergence of COVID-19, countries reacted differently to the dangerous infection, taking certain protective measures, which ultimately affected the results. Experts have found that the impact of the pandemic and the associated response measures affect overall mortality.

The report talks about mortality in 37 countries, including the Russian Federation, and compares life expectancy in 2020 with the expected, calculated on the basis of historical data from 2005-2019 (it increased for women and men in all these countries).

In 2020, the largest decrease in life expectancy was observed in the Russian Federation (-2,33 years for men and -2,14 for women), the USA (-2,27 years for men and -1,61 for women) and Bulgaria (-1,96 , 1,37 years for men and -XNUMX for women). In addition, the loss of potential life years, i. E. years that a person would have lived if he had not died ahead of time.

In 2020, the largest number of life years per 100 thousand people was lost in the Russian Federation (7020 for men and 4760 for women), Bulgaria (7260 for men and 3730 for women) and Lithuania (5430 for men and 2640 for women). In most of the countries considered in the study, the surplus of lost years of life was formed at the expense of elderly people. But in Russia, Bulgaria, Lithuania and the United States, deaths of people under the age of 65 made a significant contribution to this - over 2000 "under-lived" years per 100 thousand inhabitants. Moreover, during the flu epidemic in 2015 in the Russian Federation, there was no increase in the number of years of life lost.


- are approved in the document.

Scientists are convinced that increasing the resilience of the health system in all countries can be a major factor in the victory over the COVID-19 pandemic and possible epidemics in the future. At the same time, a quantitative assessment of how specific measures affect mortality will make it possible to determine which of them are truly important, the researchers concluded.

Note that Russia is implementing a pension reform (2019-2028), which provides for a gradual increase in the retirement age from 55 to 60 for women and from 60 to 65 for men. Taking into account the above study, which, among other things, concerned the life expectancy of Russians, it may be worthwhile to suspend the reform or even return the previous retirement age to the Russian Federation.