Objective - to compare the prevalence of risk factors (RFs) for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), health care system and economic indicators in three groups of European Region countries with different life expectancies (LE) with each other and the similar indicators in the Russian Federation. Material and methods. The countries are grouped by LE in 2008. Group 1 included European countries with LE of 80 years or more (n=13); Group 2 comprised those with LE of 75-79.9 years (n=6), and Group 3 consisted of those with LE of 70-74.9 years (n=11). The investigators used the databases of the World Health Organization (prevalence of RFs, provision of physicians and beds, funding of health care systems), the International Monetary Fund (gross domestic product (GDP) per capita based on purchasing power parity, unemployment, and inflation), and the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (Gini coefficient). Average standard deviation and 95% confidence interval were determined for the indicators of each group. Single-factor analysis of variance was made using Bonferroni's correction to compare the average indicators for the groups. Calculations were done employing SPSS, version 19. Results. The groups of the countries were found to have differences in the prevalence of RFs, the resource provision of health care systems, per capita GDP, and Gini coefficient. Their correlation with economic factors was more pronounced than that with individual RFs, which may be partially accounted for the unsatisfactory quality of primary information on RFs. Conclusion. Life span is determined by a set of factors, the complex influence of which in conjunction with scarce respective information is responsible for the complexity of an assessment of each of these factors and for the uncertainty of their role.