Why so many people left Russia after the Soviet Union Collapsed?

I was talking about this to someone recently and I found out that the main reason was not just to be freer in other countries. The main reason was they didn't want to starve to death when the Soviet Union first collapsed because many people in Russia did then.

So, this is another thing people don't know about Russia because they weren't told just how bad things got when the Soviet Union first collapsed.

So, though things aren't great right now in Russia because of low oil prices and because China is not doing very well, people are still eating enough and not starving like they used to so much when the Soviet Union first collapsed.

For example, when it first collapsed I believe it was in the National Geographic regarding some rivers in Russia being so polluted with things like kerosene for example, that you could scoop the kerosene off the tops of some rivers and use it in lamps for light. So, this was another problem because during the Soviet Union many places were ecologically destroyed then. There is at least one lake in Russia that is so ecologically polluted by nuclear radiation that it is a death sentence even if you go visit this lake even once. And this is a carry over from the Soviet Union too.

For example, the life expectancy for men is only 63.4 years there. The life expectancy for women is 75.2 which averages out to 69.3. So, a combination of ecological problems and other problems prevent the average Russian living very long still at present as of 2013. So, Russia is ranked (as of 2013) at 119th in life expectancy on earth because of these ongoing problems there. Source

http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/russia-life-expectancy

Russia : Life Expectancy

Male Female 63.4 75.2

Total World Rank 69.3 119