"In the past 12 years, life expectancy in Russia went up by 6.5 years, from 65.4 in 2005 to 71.8 in 2016. Life expectancy for men increased by 7.7 year, and for women - by 4.6," Putin said at a meeting of the presidential council on strategic development and priority projects.

MOSCOW, March 21. /TASS/. Average life expectancy in Russia raised from 65.4 in 2005 to 71.8 in 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.

He noted that over that period infant mortality went down from 10.2 to six per each 1,000 newborns. "Infant mortality rate in January was 5.1 [per 1,000 newborns]. As for maternal mortality, the situation is even better: mortality rates reduced more than three-fold," he said.

As positive factors, he cited upgrading of logistics of medical establishments and a wider use of high technology medicine. "I would like to remind that some 60,000 patients could receive such services in 2005 and their number grew to 963,100 in 2016. It means a 15-times growth," Putin stressed, adding that the number of medical establishments offering high technology services increased ten-fold, from 90 to 902.

Putin said that the average life expectancy in Russia will reach 76 years by 2025.

"There are all the possibilities to increase life expectancy in Russia to 76 years, to dramatically reduce mortality at employable age by 2025," Putin said.

At the same time, he admitted certain alarming tendencies. "Employable age mortality increased in 2015. Nothing critical about that but it is worth keener attention," he stressed.