Abstract
One of the most reliable indicators of a country’s socioeconomic development is the so-called life-expectancy at birth, a summary measure of mortality-rates from infant mortality to mortality at the most advanced ages. Since mortality is to reflect factors like nutrition, medical technology, prevention, or public health standards, it has been and still is a frequently used argument in ideological competition between East and West, too. Without doubt the Soviet Union was one of the most underdeveloped European countries at the time of the October Revolution. In terms of life-expectancy it lagged behind the other Industrialized countries of Europe by a gap of about 15 years (Pressat, 1985: 318). Even in the period between the two World Wars, the increases in Soviet life-expectancy were only relatively meager.
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© 1986 Physica-Verlag Heidelberg Wien
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Dinkel, R. (1986). Declining Life Expectancy in a Highly Developed Nation: Paradox or Statistical Artifact?. In: Diekmann, A., Mitter, P. (eds) Paradoxical Effects of Social Behavior. Physica-Verlag HD. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-95874-8_22
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-95874-8_22
Publisher Name: Physica-Verlag HD
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