Life expectancy grows to 73.3 years in Russia - deputy PM

MOSCOW. April 24 (Interfax) - Life expectancy in Russia reached 73.3 years in the first quarter of 2023, which is three years more than a year ago, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said.

"Although this is not the pre-Covid level, life expectancy has been growing at a rather high pace and stood at 72.8 years at the end of 2022. [...] The trend persists, and the indicator amounted to 73.31 years in the first quarter, up 3.25 years since the previous year. We have not seen such a growth before," Golikova said at an expanded board meeting of the Russian Health Ministry on Monday.

She noted the importance of further improving the quality of healthcare and reducing the death rate.

According to Golikova, the death rate decreased by 22% last year.

"During the first two months of this year - data for the first quarter is not available just yet - the indictor was demonstrating a stable downward trend to 12.7 cases per 100,000 residents," Golikova said.