Mortality development in Central Asian countries in 1986-2006

Mortality development in Central Asian countries in 1986-2006 Abstract Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan were more or less comparable in terms of their socioeconomic development. Despite some differences in overall mortality levels, the five former Soviet republics were also very close to each other in terms of directions of mortality trends by age, and cause-specific mortality patterns. After 1991, all the five countries experienced substantial political and social transformations, and the challenges associated with the transition from a socialist to a market economy system. The sudden changes brought numerous problems, such as rapid growth in unemployment, falling standards of living, and growing social and income inequalities. These factors contributed to the significant deterioration of the health situation in all the countries, but the size and the nature of the mortality crisis was different. This work examines patterns of mortality across the Central Asian countries using data from the middle of 1980s until 2006 years. Based on these analyses we conclude that the emergence of high mortality during the 1990s has been accompanied by increase in circulatory and external causes of death