Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992, Russia has undergone multiple political reforms, economic hardship and, on average, increasing inequality. This paper makes use of the decomposition method proposed by Baeten, et al., 2013 and the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey to examine the extent to which changes in level and distribution of incomes and changes in income mobility are related to health disparities between the poor and rich during the period 1994–2012.
The main finding of this report is that Russia, on average, experienced an increasing income-related health inequality, but a decreasing inequality in times of economic hardship. The income mobility of elderly females proved to be the main driver behind the evolution of income-related health inequality, displaying the largest relation. The decling trends of inequality can be related to the elderly profiting from the social pension scheme in times of crisis.