For most of the 20th Century, official definitions of a live birth and infant death in the Soviet Union and Russia differed from common international standards, such as those established by the World Health Organization in the latter part of the century.[5] Babies who were less than 28 weeks of gestational age, or weighed less than 1000 grams, or less than 35 cm in length – even if they showed some sign of life (breathing, heartbeat, voluntary muscle movement) – were classified as "live fetuses" rather than "live births." Only if such newborns survived seven days (168 hours) were they then classified as live births. If, however, they died within that interval, they were classified as stillbirths. If they survived that interval but died within the first 365 days they were classified as infant deaths.
It has been estimated that because of these special rules relying on gestational age as one criterion, the reported infant mortality rates in Russia and the Soviet Union were some 22 to 25 percent lower than they would have been had the WHO standard been applied
(википедия, но все же)