MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia's infant and maternal mortality rates have visibly gone down since 2000 at a pace that no other country has seen, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his annual "Direct Line" call-in session.
“Our infant and maternal mortality rates have noticeably gone down. Since 2000, the infant mortality rate has fallen three times, and the maternal [mortality] rate has fallen almost four times. I don't think that any other social sphere in the world shows such data. And the result is the rise of life expectancy. It was just over 70, and now it’s 72 years,” the Russian leader said during the live program.
