Expectancy of life at birth in 36 nationalities of the Soviet Union: 1958-60

Abstract

In the 36 nationalities of the Soviet Union the estimated expectancy of life at birth ranged from 50·0 years for Chechens to 71·1 years for Latvians with a median of about 67·5 years for Russians.

In essence, the life table function e₀ was generated from the child-woman ratios with the use of intricate equations based on empirical data obtained from official Soviet publications. A modified version of Bourgeois-Pichat's model was used to estimate life expectancies at birth among the 36 nationalities on the basis of their crude death rates and the percentage of population aged 65 years and over. The 1959 U.S.S.R. Census of Population provided information pertaining to the older age groups. The crude death rates were estimated separately with the aid of second-degree polynomials fitted to the crude demographic measures for 109 administrative areas of the Soviet Union for 1960.

Information about recent improvements in public health, as well as conjectural evaluations of economic advancement in recent years were examined and related to the past and present level of mortality among the Russian people and the remaining population of minorities.

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Notes on contributors

D. Peter Mazur

This paper was written during the author's sabbatical leave from Western Washington State College in 1968-69. Also, limited financial support for this project was received from the National Science Foundation. The funds were administered through the University of California in Berke1ey. Particular credit for help in data analysis is due to Mrs. Tatiana Okrasa. Mrs. Helga Mazur contributed her editorial skill to the work. Paul Demeny of the University of Michigan offered critical remarks with respect to methodology, and Kingsley Davis of the I.P.U.R. in Berkeley reviewed the preliminary typescript.