Mortality from undetermined causes of death in Russia and in selected countries

Аннотация

Deaths due to injuries and poisoning which experts cannot identify, such as homicide, suicide or accident, are registered in statistical databases as deaths due to an event of undetermined intent. The proportion of such deaths can indicate the quality of statistics on causes of death, above all of statistics on intentional self-harm and assaults. In Russia, the proportion of deaths due to events of undetermined intent among other external causes has been growing for almost four decades. Such a trend was observed in the past during periods of growing mortality from external causes. Yet the steady and long decline in mortality from external causes in Russia that began in 2003 has not stopped the trend. The displacement of other external causes continues, though mortality from events of undetermined intent has exceeded both suicide and homicide mortality, and its proportion has increased tenfold, reaching very high levels relative to those of other countries. In several studies done in Russia over the past decade, scholars have argued that such a high proportion essentially results from the manipulation of statistics on mortality from external causes, the so-called conversion of socially important causes of death to a latent form.

The factors behind the persistent rise of the proportion of deaths due to events of undetermined intent (EUI) are analysed on the basis of a review of relevant research and long-term trends in mortality from external causes in Russia and selected developed countries. This makes it possible to expand the contextual framework of the discussion about the factors of the persistent growth of this “technical” indicator and about the hypothesis of the “natural” character of such dynamics.