Life expectancy crisis

But the government, in the person of the Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population, Salim Muslimov, asserts that our pensioners receive pensions within 12-15 years after entering the deserved rest. There is a reason to work longer and get more.

According to the expert-economist Gubad Ibadoglu, disputes over the life expectancy of people in Azerbaijan are not groundless. According to the UN report on human development, Azerbaijan ranks the 125th among 187 countries by average life expectancy. This indicator in the country is 67 years. According to the State Statistics Committee, the average life expectancy (for both sexes) in the country is 67.4 years. This is below the average life expectancy in the world, which is almost 71 years. The average life expectancy of men is 63.2 years, for women this figure is 72 years.

However, the expert points to the manipulation with figures. According to official data, in 2013 the average life expectancy in Azerbaijan was 74.2 years, and in 2015 - 75.2 years, then this year it suddenly fell to 67 years.

"Why such differences in the statistics of the UN and State Statistical Committee? What method did the State Statistics Committee use to calculate the number of retired and elderly people? The purpose of embellishing data is clear - to show the international community that with the well-being, protecting the health of people, the availability of medical services in Azerbaijan is all right. But in reality, everything is different," Ibadoglu said.

Based on the current indicators, we can conclude that the situation with life expectancy in Azerbaijan is not so prosperous. Attention is drawn to this fact: the difference in the life expectancy of men and women reaches 8.8 years. By world standards, this is a big figure.

The candidate of medical sciences Azad Hajiyev, the men's health index is now half that of women, 10% and 20% respectively. Among men, the death rate is 5-10% higher than for women. This state of affairs is influenced, first of all, by the fact that more than half of the population lives in rural areas, where the social and medical care is lower than in the city.

The steady decline in the average life expectancy among men, according to the expert, is influenced by many factors, among which is the most unfavorable lifestyle and various diseases. For example, cardiovascular, oncological diseases among men exceeds by 7% similar indicators in women. More than 50% of the country's male population smoke. Men are by four times more likely to die from accidents, poisoning, injuries, twice as many as respiratory diseases, three times as many as infectious and parasitic diseases become the cause of death in men.

Thus, states Hajiyev, the morbidity and mortality rates for men in the country are by 3-4 times higher than those of women, which has a significant impact on the average life expectancy, and, in general, on the demographic situation in the country.

According to expert Samir Aliyev, the most important indicator in terms of health is poverty. Need, shortage of funds causes a reduction in life expectancy. People cannot get high-quality medical care, take healthy food, relax, and improve their health. Among other reasons affecting the indicator of average life expectancy is the role of adverse ecology. Almost all large cities of Azerbaijan with developed industry can be referred to the zone of ecological disaster.

According to Aliyev, ensuring life expectancy requires an integrated approach, such as raising salaries in order to buy food products, improving housing conditions, but also increasing medical care and make it affordable. We also need to build health and sports complexes for physical education. But the prices in these objects should also be available.

By the way, Japan is the world leader in the average life expectancy with the indicator of almost 80 years. The reasons for the longevity of the inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun are explained by demographers by two factors - healthy nutrition and high medical care. -0-