Differentials in Quality of Life across Eastern Europe: Evidence Based on Healthy Life Expectancy

While studies examining differentials in mortality across Eastern European countries abound, few researchers to date have focused on the diversity in quality of life. Using data from the European Values Study (EVS), the present study investigates variations in quality of life, measured by healthy life expectancy (HLE) between ages 20 and 74 for 23 Eastern European countries in 2008. The analyses from the prevalence-based Sullivan method demonstrate substantial disparities in quality of life between East Central Europe and the former Soviet Union. In 2008, the difference in HLE amounted to 21.79 years for men (ranging from 35.57 years in Macedonia to 13.98 years in Russia) and 21.86 years for women (from 34.37 years in the Czech Republic to 12.51 years in Russia). These findings suggest that men and women in East Central Europe enjoy much healthier lives compared to those in the former Soviet Union. Fully understanding the diversity in population health status within Eastern European countries requires research that focuses not only on quantity of life but also on quality of life.