After independence many Slavic and Germanic groups left the country and the population grew by just 2.7% between 1990-97, despite a high birth rate. There is a young population, with 37% under age 15. Infant mortality in 1997, at 28.6 per 1,000 live births, was higher than the former USSR as a whole (21.1) and much higher than the EU (5.7). The age standardized male death rate for ischaemic heart disease worsened during the 1990s and in 1997 was 136 per 100,000 population. However male death rates for cerebrovascular disease and cancers have declined. The incidence of TB (all forms) in 1997 was 114 per 100,000 population, compared to 67.4 in former USSR countries and 13.2 in the EU. The overall death rate was estimated as 9.15 per 1,000 population in 2000.²³

In Kyrgyzstan, the WHO World Health Report (2006) indicates a life expectancy at birth of 59 years for males; 67 years for females (Table 4). Healthy life expectancy is 52.2 years for males; 58.4 years for females.²⁴

Table 4: Population and life expectancy at birth; Commonwealth of Independent States (plus Mongolia) (2004)

Source: WHO World Health Report 2006

The adult mortality²⁵ rate in 2004 is reported as 336/1000 population for males and 162/1000 for females.²⁶

In 2006, UNAIDS reports:

‘The epidemics in Eastern Europe and Central Asia continue to grow and are affecting ever-larger parts of societies in this region. The number of people living with HIV in this region reached an estimated 1.6 million in 2005 - an increase of almost twenty-fold in less than ten years. AIDS claimed almost twice as many lives in 2005, compared with 2003, and killed an estimated 62,000 adults and children. Some 270,000 people were newly infected with HIV in the past year. The overwhelming majority of people living with HIV in this region are young; 75% of the reported infections between 2000 and 2004 were in people younger than 30 years (in Western Europe, the corresponding figure was 33%).’²⁷

UNAIDS also specifically highlight the potential increase in HIV infections in Kyrgyzstan:

‘By the end of 2004, Kyrgyz authorities had reported a cumulative total of 651 HIV cases. By May 2005, they had also reported a cumulative total of 35 AIDS cases, including 25 with fatal outcomes. Among the HIV cases with a known route of transmission, approximately 80% were infected through injecting drug use; as of 1 October 2005, 5% of this latter group are now on opioid substitution treatment. In the year 2004 alone, the republic reported 161 new HIV cases, 14 new AIDS cases and 10 AIDS deaths. The country did not register its first HIV case until 1996, but a large increase in incidence occurred in 2001. Most of the registered cases are in the Osh district; most are prisoners. Men account for 80% of the known cases, and people younger than 30 about 70%. If in 1997 only occasional cases of drug use were observed in Kyrgyzstan, according to current estimates about 2% of the population inject drugs. Available data also suggest that in 2002, the HIV prevalence among IDUs was as high as 65% in Bishkek, the capital, and 91% in Osh. HIV prevalence among prisoners in 2002 was 2.7% and syphilis prevalence 20.4%. More then 50% of inmates are IDUs, and an estimated 70% of them share injecting equipment. It is estimated that the number of sex workers in the republic is 5000, most of them in Bishkek. The percentage of them who are also IDUs is about 10-30%, and their STI rate remains high at 41.3%. According to a behavioural survey from Bishkek in 2000, 14% of IDUs use sterile syringes, 99% take drugs from common containers and 35% use the same syringe more than 20 times. Therefore, despite the low prevalence currently reported by the authorities, a rapid growth in the epidemic is not unlikely.’²⁸