Russia has Reduced Infant Mortality but Part of This Gain Reflects Falsification, Medical Experts Say

Paul Goble

    Staunton, Apr. 30 – Russia has continued to reduce rates of infant mortality in the Putin years, something it is justly proud of and that is a major factor in boosting life expectancy figures, something the Kremlin sees as critically important. But there is clear evidence that some of the reduction of infant mortality is the result of falsification, the To Be Precise portal says.

    What is going on is this. Medical facilities in at least nine federal subjects are counting as stillborn some of the babies who are born alive but die within the first seven days of life, a practice which means their deaths are not included in infant mortality calculations (tochno.st/materials/mladenceskaia-smertnost-v-rossii-s-1960-x-godov-sokratilas-v-20-raz-no-v-casti-regionov-eta-statistika-iskusstvenno-zanizena).

    Moscow reports that infant mortality fell from 8.2 per 1000 live births in 2013 to 4.2 per 1,000 live births in 2023, the last year for which figures have been released. How much falsifications have led to this reported improvement is uncertain, but the To Be Precise portal suggests it is significant.

    That is because the Russian authorities care very much about the infant mortality figure but do not care nearly as much about stillbirth because the former are viewed as a measure of the regime’s success while the latter are viewed as an entirely natural phenomenon that the regime cannot be held accountable for.

    What the portal did was to compare available figures for stillbirths and neonatal mortality. In EU countries, there were approximately two stillbirths for every infant death in the first week of life. But in Russia, the overall figure was four of the former to one of the latter and in some regions as many as 11 to 13 more. That suggests falsification is going on.

    In nine federal subjects, the number of stillbirths was significantly higher than the number of neonatal deaths. These include Chuvashia, Khabarovsk Kray, Tyumen, Amur and Leningrad Oblasts, Mordvinia, Tyva, the Nenets AD, and St. Petersburg. And falsification likely explains their reporting.

    In the North Caucasus republics, the portal continues, experts suggest that “high early neonatal mortality with relatively low stillbirth rates may be related to the overall high fertility in these regions.” But there as elsewhere, falsification may be getting worse because of the lack of adequate medical facilities to treat new babies and especially those with low birthrates.