Russians' Life Expectancy Reaches New Maximum Of 72.9 Years - Health Minister

Russians' life expectancy continues to grow, as a national program on healthcare is being implemented, and it has reached a new historical maximum of 72.9 years, with rural citizens' life expectancy growth being the biggest, Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th April, 2019) Russians' life expectancy continues to grow, as a national program on healthcare is being implemented, and it has reached a new historical maximum of 72.9 years, with rural citizens' life expectancy growth being the biggest, Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said on Wednesday.

"We have reached a new maximum in terms of Russians' life expectancy, having increased it by 0.2 years for all the Russians in general, with [general life expectancy amounting to] 72.9 [years] already, and by 0.3 [years] for men. We have thus reduced the gap between men's and women's life expectancy ... Life expectancy of rural citizens has shown the most significant annual growth, that of over 0.

3 years," Skvortsova told reporters.

National project Health-Care, developed by the Russian Health Ministry, envisions eight directions of the country's medical services development, including improvement of Primary medical assistance, cardiovascular and oncological diseases treatment and medical assistance to children; medical education; health-care sector digitization; and development of national medical centers and medical tourism.

The Russian Federal budget allocates 1.36 trillion rubles ($21.3 billion) for the implementation of this program, which is expected to last until 2024.