The health of a population is an important indicator of the general well-being of the population, and it has its practical significance, as it determines the costs of providing care, and social and medical assistance for the elderly. The study presents an assessment of healthy life-expectancy indicators of people over age 65 based on the results of the Russian epidemiological study EVCALIPT and a comparison of this results with data from other surveys in Russia and European countries.

The mortality of advanced-age residents of Russia has remained stable and high for several decades. However, the steady increase in life expectancy that started in the mid-2000s is largely due to decreased mortality among the elderly. The decrease in mortality among Moscow residents over age 80 was especially large during this period. We found evidence of a systematic deviation of these dynamics from the patterns observed in countries with reliable mortality statistics. Assuming that the patterns observed in these countries are applicable to Russia, we took the possible underestimation of mortality into account and corrected the life expectancy estimates for the residents of Moscow, Russia, and the Central Federal District at age 80, at retirement age, and at birth.

Since the mid-2000s, after a few decades of negative trends and fluctuations, Russia has experienced the longest and most stable period of life expectancy increasing for the entire period of observation which was determined not only by a decrease in mortality at the middle ages, but also at the old ages. This period has been marked by a very fast increase in life expectancy of Muscovites. The paper shows that the mortality at old ages in Moscow systematically deviates from the patterns observed in economically developed countries with reliable mortality statistics. We assume that experience of these countries is applicable to regions of Russia. Based on this assumption the adjusted estimates of life expectancy at old ages in Moscow and Russia were calculated, as well as effect of the underestimation of mortality over age 80 on life expectancy at birth and at the age of retirement.