The Wheezing Bear

Originally published October 12, 2008.

In the modern era, where human capital is so highly valued, Russia’s 59-year male life expectancy (several years lower than that of Bangladesh, for comparison) reveals an almost total lack of sustainability for current economic growth. Compounding this handicap is the negative momentum of the healthcare system—the current life expectancy for Russian men is nearly four years lower than that recorded for the same group in 1961. No other industrialized country has ever recorded such a drop in life expectancy over such a prolonged period, especially in peacetime.

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To put the situation in perspective, a 20-year-old man from Switzerland today has more than an 80 percent chance of surviving to age 65. A 20-year-old Russian man, on the other hand, has a less than 50 percent chance of reaching that age.