Introduction. Noncommunicable diseases are the cause of the majority of deaths in the world. In the near future, neoplasms will be a leading cause of death and a challenge for an increasing life expectancy in most countries of the world. In this regard, we aimed to analyze the structural changes in cancer mortality in Russia in the period 1965–2019, comparing them with trends in other countries, and to assess the hypothetical gain in life expectancy due to complete eliminating cancer mortality.

Material and methods. We used data on the age-specific mortality rates of the Russian Fertility and mortality database (rusfmd) of the centre of demographic Research of the New economic school (cdr Nes). We also used data from international databases: oecd Health statistics, global who mortality database, european Health for all database and international agency for Research on cancer. The analysis was carried out separately for males and females using decomposition and standardization methods.

Conclusion. During the soviet era, there were no positive changes in the rate and structure of cancer mortality. A decrease in the age-standardized death rate (asdr) was achieved only in the post-soviet period. However, despite the currently comparable cancer mortality rates in Russia and the eu, Russia is characterized by: a lower total number of deaths; higher asdrs of pediatric cancers; lower average life expectancy; lower five-year survival rate of patients. An increase in the average age at death and five-year survival rate may have a positive effect on an increase in the healthy life expectancy of the Russian population, but may not significantly affect the decrease in the asdr for cancer.  Therefore, these causes of death should not be considered as one of the main reserves for the growth of life expectancy (le), since even its complete elimination in the coming years can provide an increase in life expectancy by no more than 2 years.