Russians put the value of their lives at 4.5 million rubles ($68,854) on average, up from 3.8 million rubles last year, the Rossiiskaya Gazeta government daily said Wednesday, citing the results of a new survey.
Residents of the Urals city of Yekaterinburg valued their life the highest — at 7.5 million rubles — followed by residents of Moscow and Barnaul at 5 million rubles, the report said, citing the results of a survey conducted by the Moscow Financial University's sociology department in cooperation with experts from a large unidentified insurance company.
The lowest valuations were given in Makhachkala, Ulyanovsk and Saratov — with the latter city's residents valuing human life at 1.9 million rubles ($29,072), the report said.
Respondents were also asked to indicate what they thought would be fair compensation for permanent disability caused by a workplace accident. Predictably, residents in Yekaterinburg valued this amount the highest at 5.3 million rubles, while residents in Penza valued this amount the lowest at 1.3 million rubles.
The information could be used to help determine the appropriate amount of financial compensation in case of fatal accidents or terrorist attacks, and to establish premiums for life and health insurance policies, Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported.
The poll was conducted in 36 Russian cities among 7,800 respondents, the report said. The report did not specify a margin of error.
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