The mortality gap between Japan (a country with one of the lowest mortality rates in the world) and five world subregions has increased, as shown in figure II.3. The gap in life expectancy between Japan and the Russian Federation, for instance, increased from 9 years in 1985-1990 to close to 16 years in 2005-2010. A similar trend was observed in most of the countries of the former Soviet Union which suffered cutbacks in their health systems following the transition to market economies, and where public health suffered from the effects of high unemployment, growing inequality and other social impacts of the transition.