Studies on the Economic Depression and the Dramatic Declines in Average Life Expectancy in Countries that Seceded from the Soviet Union
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: A vast literature has emerged that classifies and analyzes the transition experiences of the countries that broke away from the former USSR (post-Soviet) to market economies in terms of the policies implemented, ownership of state tradition/transfer of institutional structures, depth of recession and political structures. This study aims to create a new clustering for transition economies that takes into account the relationship between income per capita and average life expectancy. Income and life expectancy data for 15 post-Soviet economies are clustered into three groups in terms of averages. It has been found that 9 of the 15 countries overlap in terms of income and life expectancy. It has been noted that during the transition recession, uncertainties and persistent declines in income trended together, consistent with the literature that life expectancy was reduced. Consequently, dramatic and continuous decreases in income have had the effect of reducing life expectancy and population growth rates. In the studies conducted with long-term data covering the years 1990-2022, including all transition processes, it is found that the relationships between income and average life span are linear in 10 countries except Turkmenistan in the 1st cluster and Belarus, Georgia, Armenia and Lithuania in the 3rd cluster; whereas, the relationship is in the opposite direction in 5 countries. This information confirms the hypothesis that, in the case of transition economies, continuous declines in income, i.e. recession, are the factors that negatively affect the population and average life expectancy.
Source: Journal of Eurasian Economies
DOI: 10.36880/j05.2.0159
Institutions: Beykent University, Atatürk University
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W7172218656