Regions rating in terms of life standards of older people
Senior Russians are best to live in Moscow and St. Petersburg. These are the results of the rating of the quality of life of older people who have prepared the research project “to be precise”. The main indicator in it is the expectation of life for 55-year-olds: according to the results of 2023, on average in the country, it amounted to a record 24.5 years, and in Moscow and St. Petersburg-29.8 and 26.5 years, respectively. In Moscow, according to Vice-mayor, Anastasia Rakakova, more than 1 thousand people have already celebrated their century.
The project “to be precise” (explores social problems based on open data) presented the rating of regions by the standard of living of older people. It is based on the statistics of Rosstat and the information of the Russian database on the birth rate and mortality for 2023 (more fresh data have not yet been published). The rating was based on four indicators: life expectancy; the share of people older than working age with income below the subsistence minimum; the share of busy people older than working age; The proportion of people older than working age, who visited at least one “leisure event” (cinema, theater, museum, concert, etc.) in the last year)
The most prosperous situation for older people is formed in Moscow and St. Petersburg mainly due to the high expected life expectancy: in 2023 people at the age of 55 could expect to live another 29.8 years in Moscow and 26.5 years in St. Petersburg.
The lowest quality of life, according to the authors of the study, in Ingushetia, Chechnya and the Trans -Baikal Territory. In the Caucasian republics, the main problem is the high proportion of the poor population older than working age: 26.4% in Chechnya and 21.2% in Ingushetia. The Trans-Baikal Territory « failed » by the expected life expectancy of 55-year-olds-only 21.1 years. In the ten regions with the worst position of older people, the Lipetsk region also included, where only 20.4% of citizens over 55 years old lead a socially active lifestyle, visiting cinema, museums, concerts, etc.
“The capital has an active lifestyle and longevity,” Anastasia Rakova, deputy mayor of Moscow, commented for “Kommersant”. She mentioned the Moscow Longevity project, which since 2018 has united recreational, educational and leisure activities for older Muscovites. According to Anastasia Rakakova, over a thousand Muscovites have already celebrated the centenary, and the average expectancy of life in the city exceeds 79 years. “The development of medicine in St. Petersburg and timely medical examination allow Petersburgers to take care of their health, which creates the basis for the implementation of active longevity programs and increase the duration of the active life of representatives of“ silver age ”,” Kommersant Committee on Health of St. Petersburg said.
The Government of the Lipetsk region, responding to Kommersant's request, did not directly comment on the results of the study, but they told, in particular, about the Lipetsk Longevity project, which started in 2021: today more than 40 thousand people participate in it, their number is growing annually. The project includes wellness events (swimming, yoga, Scandinavian walking, culinary master classes, excursions), as well as cultural and educational activity (attending lectures, exhibitions, concerts, etc.). The regional government also noted that according to the results of 2023, an indicator of the expectant life expectancy in the region was 72.44 years. At the same time, the region’s authorities admit that the share of employed people older than working age in the region over the past five years has decreased from 11.8% to 9.8%.
It was not possible to get answers to the requests that “Kommersant” sent to the government of Chechnya, Ingushetia and the Trans -Baikal Territory at the time of publication.
The compilers of the rating calculated that in 2023, 24.5 million people (17% of the country's population) aged 65 years and older lived in Russia.
In 2014, there were 19.2 million, or about 13% of the population, and in 1950 only 5 million people of this age category lived in the RSFSR. “To be precise” also notes the growth of life expectancy after 55 years: if in 2014 it was 22.8 years, then in 2023 he reached a record 24.5 years. The analysts of the project explain this to the so -called harvest effect: “People from coronavirus died, whose deaths would have been different in the next years.”
Researchers also found out what diseases older Russians most often face. The first place is occupied by the problems of the circulatory system (32% of all new cases of disease in 2023). Since 2015, the incidence of cardiovascular diseases has increased by 18%. In second place in violation of the respiratory system, in the third-diseases of the bone muscular system and connective tissue. The increase in the incidence of cardiovascular diseases can be associated with an increase in the coverage of medical examination-doctors notice cases that were “in the shadow”, said Artemy Okhotin, a researcher at the public health of the Institute of Interdisciplinary Medical Research of EUSPB. Gleb Gleb Krasnov is not surprised that Russians live longer than citizens of the USSR: the main achievements of pharmacology in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases occurred after the collapse of the union, he recalls.
