Life expectancy at birth in the U.S. and Soviet Union 1970-1988, by gender

In 1970, women born in the U.S. could expect to live for 1.3 years more than women in the Soviet Union, and men in the U.S. could expect to live for 2.7 years longer than their Soviet counterparts. U.S. figures would steadily increase over the following decade, whereas the economic decline of the Soviet Union would see life expectancy fall by two years for men and 0.8 years for women. In 1980, the difference in life expectancy from birth between the two countries was 7.5 years for men, and 4.8 years for women. This difference has largely been attributed to an increase in alcohol and substance abuse and accidental deaths among males in the Soviet Union, as well as more accurate reporting methods in the Soviet Union (suggesting that early figures may no be fully representational). Although Soviet life expectancy did increase in the 1980s, the gap between life expectancy there and in the U.S. remained significantly larger than in 1970, and this trend continued well into the 1990s and early-2000s as the post-Soviet states adjusted to the socio-economic impact of the Union's dissolution.