Vodka and cigarettes are driving Russian men to an early grave, and a young man today has only a 50-50 chance of reaching the age of 60, Russian and Western experts said Tuesday.
By 1994, the average life expectancy for a man had fallen to 57 from 63 four years earlier, compared with 74 in the European Union.
However, an international conference in Moscow heard there were signs of a slight fall in the death rate over the last couple of years.
“The problem of high mortality and the long-term nature of the problem are very alarming,” Nikolai Gerasimenko, president of Russia’s parliamentary health committee, said at a conference of doctors, demographers and health experts from Russia, Britain and France who have been investigating Russia’s health crisis.
