while in some countries gains in life expectancy have outpaced gains in living standards in others the reverse has been observed the russian federation saw life expectancy decline in the s due largely to societal changes increases in external causes of death and other risk factors such as excess consumption of alcohol there is evidence that this trend is now reversing and life expectancy has started to increase again popov in south africa life expectancy has also fallen recently because of the devastating hivaids epidemic years gained are calculated starting from for canada new zealand and italy for the russian federation the gain is nil