Healthy Life Expectancy and Age-standardized Prevalence of Being Healthy in Russia
The "Healthy Life Expectancy and Age-standardized Prevalence of Being Healthy in Russia" database contains healthy life expectancy estimates by sex and age for Russia from 2000 to 2023. The healthy life expectancy estimates presented in this database are calculated based on data derived from life tables developed by the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) and sample population surveys conducted from 2000 to 2023. This database is useful for anyone studying the health status of the Russian population, including changes over time and differences in self-rated health and mortality between men and women. The data is presented in *.xlsx format.
Attention! The database of healthy life expectancy and age-standardized proportion of healthy people in the Russian population is currently in test mode. We are developing a methodology for calculating the proportion of healthy people in the population.
1. Database Contents
Healthy Life Expectancy (at age x years) – the average number of years a person can expect to live in "good" health.
Age-Standardized Healthy Population Proportion – the proportion of the population at a given age who rate their health as "good" (including "excellent" and/or "very good" and, under certain conditions, "satisfactory"), weighted by the standard population weights. (The 2013 European Standard Population is used.)
2. Source Data and Calculation Methodology
- Data from the "Mortality and Life Expectancy Tables (3TS)" for the entire population of Russia and Moscow, provided to HSE by the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat).
- Data from sample population surveys: Selective observation of behavioral factors affecting the health of the population (Rosstat), Selective Observation of Population Health (Rosstat), Russian Monitoring of the Economic Situation and Health of the Population (HSE), National Study of the Older Generation (HSE), and the study "Stress, Aging, and Health in Russia."
Healthy life expectancy (HLE) was calculated using the Sullivan method (Sullivan, 1971). HLE was estimated separately for men and women at birth (age 0), ages 15, 50 (55 for Moscow), and 65.
Information on the databases used and methods for calculating the proportion of healthy people in the population is presented in the Brief Methodology.
3. Data File Description
The first element of the row is the survey abbreviation (column "Survey"; see Table 1 in the Brief Methodology).
The second element of the row is the year the survey was conducted (column "Year").
The third element (column "Sex") is the gender (1 – male; 2 – female).
The fourth element (column "Territory") is the territory code (1100 – Russia as a whole; 1145 – Moscow).
The "HLE_Rus" file then contains columns with healthy life expectancy ("HLE") values based on age ("birth" – at birth, "_15", "_50", "_55", "_65" years) and the method for classifying respondents as healthy ("_PFD" – dichotomization with a positive focus, "_NFD" – dichotomization with a negative focus, "_MD" – redistribution of the "middle" category based on the model), in years of life.
The "Share_good_SRH_Rus" file contains columns with the age-standardized proportion of healthy individuals in the population ("SHARE") based on the respondent's age range ("birth" – at birth, "_15", "_50", "_55", "_65" years) and the method for classifying respondents as healthy ("_PFD" – dichotomization with a positive focus, "_NFD" – dichotomization with a negative focus, "_MD" – redistribution of the "middle" category based on a model). The standardized proportions of healthy individuals were calculated using the 2013 European Population Standard.
If the indicator cannot be calculated for a certain combination of survey, year, gender, and territory, the corresponding substantive elements in the file are replaced with "."
References:
Sullivan, D. F., "Disability components for an index of health," Vital and Health statistics. Series 2, Data Evaluation and Methods Research. – 1971. – No. 42. – P. 1-40.
1. Brief information about the sample health surveys used
| Title | Coverage | Years | Age of respondents | Wording of the question on self-rated health |
| Russian Monitoring of the Economic Situation and Health of the Population | Russia as a whole | 2000-2023 | 15+ (children's questionnaire 0-14 years) | How do you rate your health? Is it… |
| Selective observation of behavioral factors affecting the health of the population | Russia as a whole | 2013, 2018 | 15+ | How do you rate your overall health at present? |
| Selective Observation of Population Health | Russia as a whole | 2019-2023 | 15+ (children's questionnaire 0-14 years) | How do you rate your overall health at present? |
| National Study of the Older Generation | Russia as a whole | 2021 | 50+ | How would you rate your health currently? Do you think it's... |
| Stress, Aging, and Health in Russia | Moscow | 2007-2009 | 55+ | Overall, would you rate your health as... |
2. Methodology for calculating the proportion of healthy people in the population:
2.1. Tabulation of the proportion of "healthy" people by gender and five-year age groups, starting from the lower age limit of respondents in the survey and up to the last open age interval (85 years and older) and the respondent's answer to the self-rated health question ("How do you rate your health?" / "How do you generally rate your current health?" depending on the survey).
2.2. Classifying respondents as "healthy" and "unhealthy" based on their answers.
1. Positive-focus dichotomization (PFD) – respondents who rated their health as "good" or better are considered healthy;
2. Negative-focus dichotomization (NFD) – respondents who rated their health as "poor" or worse are excluded from the healthy group;
3. Model-distributed fair category redistribution (MD) – in addition to respondents who rated their health as "very good" and "good," healthy respondents include some of those who rated their health as "satisfactory/average." For them, the model, based on their sociodemographic profile and the presence or absence of diseases and various conditions, predicts a probability of "good self-rated health" with 95% accuracy (97,5% for respondents aged 20-44). This method was applied only to data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS-HSE). The method was first applied and described in Shkolnikov et al. (2025).
2.3. Smoothing the curves of healthy proportions by gender and age from various surveys using the spline method
3. Standardization of healthy proportions
Standardized healthy proportions were calculated using the 2013 European Population Standard.
4. Calculating Healthy Life Expectancy
Healthy life expectancy (HLE) was calculated using Sullivan's method (Sullivan, 1971) using previously calculated healthy population proportions, life tables, and life expectancy estimates for the entire population of Russia and Moscow for the corresponding calendar years: 2000-2023 and 2008. HLE was estimated separately for men and women at birth (age 0), 15, 50 (55 for Moscow), and 65 years of age.
References:
Sullivan D. F. Disability components for an index of health //Vital and Health statistics. Series 2, Data Evaluation and Methods Research. – 1971. – №. 42. – С. 1-40.
Shkolnikov VM, Sergeev E, Shchur A, Timonin S. Reclassifying Fair Self-Rated Health in Russia: A Model-Based Approach to Estimating Health and Healthy Life Expectancy in a European Context, 2003–2022. (in progress)
Estimates of healthy life expectancy (HLE)
Age-standardized proportion of healthy people in the population
Variables in data files
Survey - Name of the sample survey (RLMS-HSE - Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, Rosstat_survey_1 - Selective observation of behavioral factors affecting the health of the population, Rosstat_survey_2 - Selective Observation of Population Health, NISP_SHARE - National Study of the Older Generation, SAHR - Stress, Aging, and Health in Russia)
Year - Year
Sex - Gender (1 - Male, 2 - Female)
Territory - Territory code (1100 - Russian Federation, 1145 - Moscow)
HLE_birth_PFD - Estimated HLE at birth with positive dichotomization
HLE_birth_NFD - Estimated HLE at birth with negative dichotomization
HLE_birth_MD - Estimated HLE at birth with redistribution of the "middle" category based on the model
HLE_15_PFD - Estimated HLE at age 15 with dichotomization using a positive focus
HLE_15_NFD - Estimated HLE at age 15 with dichotomization using a negative focus
HLE_15_MD - Estimated HLE at age 15 with redistribution of the "middle" category based on the model
HLE_50_PFD - Estimated HLE at age 50 with dichotomization using a positive focus
HLE_50_NFD - Estimated HLE at age 50 with dichotomization using a negative focus
HLE_50_MD - Estimated HLE at age 50 with redistribution of the "middle" category based on the model
HLE_55_PFD - Estimated HLE at age 55 with dichotomization using a positive focus
HLE_65_PFD - Estimated HLE At age 65, dichotomized with a positive focus
HLE_65_NFD - Estimated HLE at age 65, dichotomized with a negative focus
HLE_65_MD - Estimated HLE at age 65, dichotomized with a "middle" category based on the model
SHARE_birth_PFD - Age-standardized proportion of healthy individuals at birth, dichotomized with a positive focus
SHARE_birth_NFD - Age-standardized proportion of healthy individuals at birth, dichotomized with a negative focus
SHARE_birth_MD - Age-standardized proportion of healthy individuals at birth, dichotomized with a "middle" category based on the model
SHARE_15_PFD - Age-standardized proportion of healthy individuals at age 15, dichotomized with a positive focus
SHARE_15_NFD - Age-standardized proportion of healthy individuals at age 15, dichotomized with a Negative focus
SHARE _15_MD - Age-standardized proportion of healthy individuals at age 15 with a redistribution of the "middle" category based on the model
SHARE _50_PFD - Age-standardized proportion of healthy individuals at age 50 with a dichotomization with a positive focus
SHARE _50_NFD - Age-standardized proportion of healthy individuals at age 50 with a dichotomization with a negative focus
SHARE _50_MD - Age-standardized proportion of healthy individuals at age 50 with a redistribution of the "middle" category based on the model
SHARE _55_PFD - Age-standardized proportion of healthy individuals at age 55 with a dichotomization with a positive focus
SHARE _65_PFD - Age-standardized proportion of healthy individuals at age 65 with a dichotomization with a positive focus
SHARE _65_NFD - Age-standardized proportion of healthy individuals at age 65 years with negative dichotomization
SHARE _65_MD - Age-standardized proportion of healthy individuals at age 65 with the "middle" category redistributed based on the model
Attention! The database of healthy life expectancy and age-standardized proportion of healthy people in the Russian population is currently in test mode. We are developing a methodology for calculating the proportion of healthy people in the population.
Data from the "Healthy Life Expectancy and Age-standardized Prevalence of Being Healthy in Russia" database are available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. © 2025 by Aleksey Shchur, Inna Panafidina, Egor Sergeev, Elena Churilova
When publishing results, we recommend using the following citations:
Healthy Life Expectancy and Age-standardized Prevalence of Being Healthy in Russia. International Laboratory for Population and Health, National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia). The database is available at https://demogr.hse.ru/hle. Data downloaded on [date].
If a different data link format is used, please ensure that it includes the full database name (Healthy Life Expectancy and Age-standardized Prevalence of Being Healthy in Russia) and the database's web address.
When publishing results, we recommend using the following citation format:
Healthy Life Expectancy and Age-standardized Prevalence of Being Healthy in Russia. International Laboratory for Population and Health, National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia). The database is available at https://demogr.hse.ru/hle. Data downloaded on [date].
If using a different citation format, please ensure it includes the full database name (Estimates of Healthy Life Expectancy and the Proportion of Healthy Population in Russia or Healthy Life Expectancy and Age-standardized Prevalence of Being Healthy in Russia) and the database's online location.
Aleksey Shchur, Senior researcher ILPH HSE
Elena Churilova, Head of Laboratory ILPH HSE
Inna Panafidina, Research Assistant ILPH HSE
Egor Sergeev, Research Assistant ILPH HSE
If you have any questions related to the data, please contact Vera Sokolova.
The "Healthy Life Expectancy and Age-standardized Prevalence of Being Healthy in Russia" database was prepared based on the results of the "Recommendations for Family Policy Measures and Active Ageing Policies Taking into Account the Dynamics of Quality of Life Indicators" project (2025-2027) under the HSE Fundamental Research Program. Research ID No. 6.0032-2025.
We thank V.M. Shkolnikov for providing the data from the "Stress, Aging, and Health in Russia" study; O.V. Sinyavskaya (HSE University) for providing the first wave of the IISP; and S.A. Timonin (Australian National University) and V.M. Shkolnikov for valuable advice, consultations, and the development of an alternative methodology for dichotomizing self-rated health in populations with a high proportion of the "middle" category using RLMS-HSE data as an example. We also thank the staff of the Higher School of Economics, who provided consultations and assistance on other issues related to the preparation of the database.
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