In 2012, 1,043,292, or 55% of all deaths in Russia were caused by cardiovascular disease. The second leading cause of death was cancer which claimed 287,840 lives (15.2%). External causes of death such as suicide (1.5%), road accidents (1.5%), murders (0.8%), accidental alcohol poisoning (0.4%), and accidental drowning (0.5%), claimed 202,175 lives in total (10.6%). Other major causes of death were diseases of the digestive system (4.6%), respiratory disease (3.6%), infectious and parasitic diseases (1.6%), and tuberculosis (0.9%). The infant mortality rate in 2012 was 7.6 deaths per 1,000 (down from 8.2 in 2009 and 16.9 in 1999).

Was the infant mortality rate higher in 2012 or 2009?