As in other developing countries given the wide-spread labour market informality and population ageing, a payroll tax may not be the best funding instrument to raise sufficient revenue to fund adequate health care services. Funding the NHI through a higher value added tax or by general tax revenue would spread the financing burden more equitably across the population based on the ability to pay and will make financing less vulnerable to setbacks in the fight against labour market informality. Russian life expectancy was 69 years in 2010, more than ten years below the OECD average and about seven years shorter than in countries with a similar income level, such as Chile and Poland.