Healthcare in Russia

Russia's constitution guarantees free, universal health care for all Russian citizens via a compulsory government health insurance program.

State of Russian healthcare system and state of public health in Russia

The 2021 Health Care Index lists Russia’s healthcare system as being 58th best out of 89 countries - with a very low score for quality of infrastructure. A Bloomberg report ranks Russian healthcare last out of 55 developed countries based on the efficiency of state healthcare systems.

As of 2020, the overall life expectancy in the Russian Federation at birth was 71.54 years (66.49 years for males and 76.43 years for females).

Adam Gwiazda's article Demographic crisis in Russia states:

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The state of public health is one of the most extreme aspects of the demographic crisis in Russia. As a result of the AIDS epidemic, alcoholism and the dreadful state of health care, in the years 2005-2015 the mortality rate in Russia was three times higher among men and twice as high among women as in other countries with a similar level of social and economic development. More than half of the deaths of Russians aged 15-54 were caused by alcohol abuse after the collapse of the USSR. It should be noted that even the increase in the income of the Russian population by about 80 per cent in the years 1999-2008 did not result in a decrease in the mortality rate. High Russian mortality is the result not only of “normally” treatable diseases, such as tuberculosis, but also of lifestyle: drinking vodka, smoking cigarettes and AIDS. Every year, 500,000 people die due to alcohol in Russia. This applies to both women and men. The drug problem is also huge, as the prices of drugs are lower than in Western countries. Russia is also unable to cope with the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases and cancer, which are the main cause of death. The problem is not only the lack of sufficient funds for health care (until mid-2005, about 4.2 per cent of GDP was allocated for this purpose, while in rich European countries it was on average 8-10 per cent of GDP), but also the country’s unfavorable social and economic situation, relatively low position of health and a long life on the Russian list of priorities, poverty, lack of responsibility for one’s own health, and bad habits.

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AIDS epidemic in Russia

See also: AIDS and Russia

Human Immunodeficiency Virus attacking T4 lymphocytes

As recently as 2022, Russia was cited as having the fifth highest rate of new HIV diagnoses globally.

The Kennan Institute reported in 2023 about Russia's AIDS epidemic:

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As recently as 2022, Russia was cited as having the fifth highest rate of new HIV diagnoses globally... The high prevalence of HIV is attributable to multiple factors, including high rates of intravenous drug use and unprotected sex among high-risk populations. Today, Russia’s response remains muted, and the crisis continues to grow. The rate of infections is estimated to increase by 10 percent to 15 percent per year, meaning that up to 150,000 Russians will be diagnosed with HIV in 2023 alone. Russia’s population is over 140 million people. For comparison, in the United States, with a population of over 330 million, approximately 36,000 are estimated to be infected in 2023.

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Politico reported about Russia's AIDS epidemic in 2020:

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Today, there’s little denying that AIDS is also a Russian disease. More than 340,000 Russians have died of AIDS, two-thirds of them in the past decade. In 2018 alone, the last year for which precise figures are available, AIDS took the lives of 37,000 people across Russia, with the rate of new infections rising by between 10 percent and 15 percent a year, according to the World Health Organization... Although needle-sharing among drug addicts was one of the main reasons the disease spread so quickly, most HIV transmissions in Russia — 57 percent — are now a result of heterosexual sex. Drug use is responsible for 40 percent, while gay sex accounts for around 3 percent, according to Russia’s Federal Research Center for AIDS Prevention and Control in Moscow.

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In 2023, Russia had the second highest alcoholism rate in the world. Alcoholism in Russia has increased for the first time in 10 years

In 2023, Russia had the second highest alcoholism rate in the world as far as it being a problem with both genders. In addition, in 2023 Russia had the highest alcoholism rate for males.

See also: Alcoholism in Russia

In 2023, Russia had the second highest alcoholism rate in the world as far as it being a problem with both genders. In addition, in 2023 Russia had the highest alcoholism rate for males. In 2019, it was reported that every year 500,000 people die due to alcohol in Russia.

Alcoholism in Russia has increased for the first time in 10 years, Russia’s business news daily Kommersant reported citing data from the state statistics agency Rosstat.

On January, 15, 2024, Newsweek reported:

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Russian newspaper Kommersant cited Rosstat's figures from its "Healthcare in Russia-2023" handbook, which was published in December. It showed that in 2022—the year Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began — 54,200 patients were diagnosed with alcohol dependence, of whom 12,900 were diagnosed with alcohol psychosis (a condition accompanied by hallucinations, delusions, mood swings, outbursts of violence or aggression and other symptoms). Levels had been consistently dropping for a decade, between 2010 and 2021, from 153,900 to 53,300 people, but they are now back on the rise as of 2022, the statistics show.

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See also

• Russian demographics