From: "Michael Herzen" <mikeh@4herzen.net>
Subject: re 2009 JRL #34, item #16 infant mortality
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2009
Perhaps one of the readers can clarify this question: Is it true that Russia counts a live birth only after the newborn has survived several weeks (and that this is not the case in western countries)?
Needless to say, if this were the case, it would make the picture even considerably more dire than Dr. Kolesnikov indicates. Compounding this might be poor statistics near Central Asia. Many years ago, before the breakup of the Soviet Union, I was told by folks that should know that the infant mortality rate in those Republics (especially around the disaster of the Aral Sea and the massive cultivation of cotton) was close to 50%! Anyone have any knowledge of this?