Mortality in Kazakhstan in the Post-Soviet Period

ABSTRACT In Kazakhstan, after independence in 1991, profound changes in the economic and political system. During the next quarter century the demographic situation changed dramatically. It was not stable. Among the countries of Central Asia, Kazakhstan has a high mortality rate, especially in working-age groups. This is explained by a perceptible deterioration in the living standards of the population after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a decline in the quality of medical care, and an aggravation of the environmental situation in many regions of the country. The high mortality rate in the country, as in most former Soviet republics, is due to both endogenous and exogenous mortality factors. In this research, identified the specific features of mortality in Kazakhstan in the process of epidemiological transition, and analyzed ethnic characteristics of mortality for three ethnic groups (Kazakhs, Russians, Uzbeks), age characteristics of mortality, life expectancy and changes in the structure of death in Kazakhstan. Using the method decomposition E.Andreev was determined the contribution individual classes of causes of death to changes in life expectancy since 1990 to 2015. In Kazakhstan, the structure of mortality is not «new». In the structure of mortality, the main causes are diseases of the circulatory system, which leads to the conclusion that the republic is in the third stage of epidemiological transition. In addition, the high mortality rate from external causes, especially among men in working-age groups, indicates signs of a reverse transition, so this transition in the country can be considered unfinished.