MOSCOW, March 12 (Xinhua) -- More than 7,000 people aged 100 years or older now live in Russia and the number is expected to grow in the near future, a Russian deputy prime minister said Monday.

In seven or eight years, the centenarian population will "significantly" increase, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said at an international forum, adding that there were just "dozens" of centenarians in the past, without specifying the time frame.

The Russian government would make efforts to ensure a high-quality life for the elderly people, she said.

Russia's current average life expectancy is 72 years and the country aims to raise the figure to 78 years by 2025 with a focus on diseases prevention and treatment.

Official data showed that Russia's overall mortality rate in 2017 was 12.4 per one thousand people, the lowest in 25 years.

The world's largest country in area had 146.8 million people as of February 2017, slightly up from 146.5 million a year ago.