Abstract
This chapter uses previous research to identify determinants of mortality rates, an economic variable that affects the size of Russia’s population.
It concluded that factors such as a deterioration in levels of medical care or an increase in environmental pollution could not easily explain the rise in mortality rates throughout the Soviet era and the fluctuating mortality rates seen after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The analysis explored the relationship between Russians and alcohol, which had been described anecdotally in literary works, the media, and so on, and demonstrated the significance of alcohol consumption as a factor exerting a decisive influence on long-term changes in mortality rates and the probability of death in Russia.
Revised from Hi-Stat Discussion Paper, Series 239, pp. 1–32, July 2012, “Mortality Trends in Russia Revisited: A Survey” by Kazuhiro Kumo. With kind permission of the Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, Japan. All rights reserved.
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Kumo, K. (2017). Changes in Mortality: Meta-Analysis. In: Demography of Russia. Studies in Economic Transition. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51850-7_7
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