Healthy Life Expectancy in the Context of the United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing

Abstract

The article examines the dynamics of the healthy life expectancy (HALE) in the world, in the WHO European Region and in Russia. It provides cross-country comparisons, revealing the main trends in the dynamics of healthy life expectancy at birth and at older ages. The author notes that the most intense growth in healthy life expectancy can be observed in low-income countries; as wealth increases, growth in healthy life expectancy slows down. The author analyzes the differences in healthy life expectancy between the regions of the Russian Federation. It is noted that the inequality between Russian regions is higher compared to the inequality between groups of low- and high-income countries, between WHO regions, and between countries of the WHO European Region. Russia is one of the countries for which the territorial aspect of inequality in all its manifestations is of great importance. The article discusses various methods for assessing healthy life expectancy, adopted in international and Russian statistics. The study concludes that the HALE indicator used by WHO is optimal for assessing the performance of health systems, for monitoring the health situation of the population. The indicators calculated by Eurostat and Russian statistics are based on the population's self-perceived state of health. Self-perceived health status is essential for assessing the quality of life and determining the need for health care, social services and care, although it is subjective. This is especially important in terms of promoting healthy ageing. The process of population ageing in the world is accelerating more and more. Medical, social, economic, psychological problems associated with the ageing of the population are most acute in economically developed countries. Increasing healthy life expectancy, active longevity, and the development of the ‘silver economy’ are responses to the global demographic challenge of population ageing. Active longevity sets new directions for the development of various spheres of society: medicine, social protection, education and the labour market. At the same time, active longevity creates new types of inequality in these areas, associated with the availability of the necessary resources both at the country level and at the level of population groups and individuals.