Has privatization killed 3 million Russians?
Who is to blame
Abroad, it was decided that the increase in male mortality in Russia was caused by privatizationIrina Vlasova, GZT.RU
British and American scientists who studied the causes of the increase in mortality among the male population of Eastern Europe, the CIS and Russia in the 1990s came to the conclusion that the change of economic formations in the states of the former socialist camp had a huge impact on this. The researchers' report was published on Thursday by the authoritative medical journal Lancet. Russian experts are skeptical of their colleagues' conclusions and do not see a direct link between the death rate and changes in the economy.
David Stuckler and Laurence King from the University of Cambridge, Martin McKee from the London Graduate School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, as well as American economist Jeffrey Sachs analyzed the mortality rate among men of working age (15-59 years) in 1989-2002. The researchers noted that the shock reform of the economy, including the mass privatization of at least 25% of large state-owned enterprises during the transition from socialism to capitalism in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, had a catastrophic impact on the health of the population. UNICEF data cited by scientists confirm that 3 million premature deaths are associated with economic transformations. Researchers have recorded that with mass rapid privatization, the increase in mortality was 12.8%. A more detailed analysis showed that the most important role in the increase in mortality was played by a 56 percent increase in unemployment over this period. Being out of work, people often lost high–quality medical care (then it was provided by employers), and some - and other forms of social protection.
The maximum increase in mortality was recorded in Russia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, where privatization was carried out at the fastest pace. As a result, unemployment in these five countries increased by more than 305% in 1991-1994, and male mortality increased by 42%. In Croatia, Albania, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia, where the reforms were much slower, the unemployment rate was only 2%, and the mortality rate among the male population even decreased by 10%.
The most important protective factor to contain the catastrophic consequences of economic reforms were various public associations – from church communities to trade unions. In countries where 45% or more of the inhabitants were members of at least one public association, mass privatization did not have a catastrophic effect on the increase in mortality, the researchers conclude.
Russian scientists are skeptical of the conclusions of the British and do not see a direct dependence of male mortality on economic reforms. "I see no reason to associate the increase in mortality with privatization," Boris Denisov, a senior researcher at the Laboratory of Population Economics and Demography at the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University, told the Gazeta correspondent. – Russian scientists talk about a wave-like change in mortality rates, and epidemiology researchers note that mortality increased in the mid-1960s, fell in the 1980s due to the anti-alcohol campaign and increased again in the early and then in the late 1990s. As for the correlation with the current situation, we can talk about a certain number of hysterical suicides, but no more." Russian demographers do not have data on the relationship between mortality growth and economic reform. Denisov noted that one of the reasons for the increase in mortality of the male population of Russia is excessive alcohol consumption in the so–called "northern" way, when they drink a lot in a short time. In addition, doctors and sociologists know that the growth of drunkenness is associated with social problems that worsen during periods of crisis and economic withdrawal.
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru19.01.2009