 The Russian Constitution guarantees free, universal health care for all its citizens.In practice, however, free health care is partially restricted because of mandatory registration.While Russia has more physicians, hospitals, and health care workers than almost any other country in the world on a per capita basis, since the dissolution of the Soviet Union the health of the Russian population has declined considerably as a result of social, economic, and lifestyle changes; the trend has been reversed only in the recent years, with average life expectancy having increased 6.8 years for males and 4.2 years for females between 2006 and 2018.