(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 7, 2014) The domestic consequences of Moscow’s Crimean policy combined with Russia’s weakening economic prospects will drive ever more young Russians to seek work and possibly permanent residence abroad, an “exodus” that will hurt the country far more than any of the sanctions announced so far, according to Yevgeny Gontmakher. In […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – April 3, 2014) National polls appear to show widespread support among Russians for the government’s seizure and annexation of the Crimean peninsula last month. But not everyone in the country views the move as positive – and some see it as the last straw. The takeover of Crimea, paired with the Kremlin’s […]
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MOSCOW, April 2 (RIA Novosti) – New housing incentives and high wages will help prevent young Russian scientists from leaving the country, a Russian official said Wednesday during a meeting of young scientists in Siberia. “I think that we should create better conditions so that our young scientists are motivated to build their career here in the country. And by […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 18, 2014) Three newly released statistics – one on births in Kazakhstan, a second on how Russians understand events in Ukraine, and a third on where websites of the .ru domain are hosted – say more about where the Russian Federation is heading than do more prominent declarations of Moscow political […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 4 (Interfax) – Fewer Russians are taking permanent residence abroad, according to the Federal Migration Service. “Approximately 26,000-27,000 took permanent residence abroad last year. There has been a decline in the number of people leaving for permanent residence in foreign countries since 2008,” Federal Migration Service head Konstantin Romodanovsky said in an interview published by Komsomolskaya Pravda on […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Elena Lysak, special to RBTH – January 28, 2014) The Ministry of Health will set up crisis pregnancy centers in an attempt to decrease the number of abortions each year. Population loss through abortions in the 1960s to 1980s cost Russia more than double the number of lives it had lost in the […]
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NOVO-OGARYOVO, January 22 (RIA Novosti) Russia’s population showed natural growth of 22,650 people last year despite a declining birthrate, the country’s health minister said Tuesday. The mortality rate over the first 11 months decreased by 19,000 deaths compared with the same period in 2012, while the birth rate dropped by only 919 births, Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said in […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, January 15, 2014) For the first time since the end of the USSR, there were more births than deaths among Russian citizens during the first 11 months of 2013. While the difference was small, 23,000, compard to the number of births 1.753 million and deaths 1.730 million, many commentators were celebrating what […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, January 14, 2014) Russia’s demographic decline is taking many forms the disappearance of villages, the hollowing out of the countryside and difficulties with meeting draft quotas and having enough working age people to support an aging population but perhaps the most dramatic is the predicted disappearance of relatively large cities […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, December 23, 2013) Unless the Russian government takes effective measures over the next decade to raise birthrates and cut super-high death rates, two Moscow experts say, the country will see a catastrophic decline not only in its overall population but even more among those of working age. Darya Khalturina and Yevgenya Yuryeva […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 18 (Interfax) – Russia’s population was an estimated 143.6 million on November 1, 2013, up 261,600 from the beginning of 2013, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said. The number of births in January-October rose to 1,591,600 from 1,586,900 in the same period of last year. The number of deaths fell to 1,574,800 from 1,586,100. Natural population growth […]
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MOSCOW. December 6 (Interfax) – Immigration may partially compensate for the decline in Russia’s population, Federal Migration Service head Konstantin Romodanovsky said during his lecture at Moscow State University on Friday. “New estimates were posted this year saying that the Russian able-bodied population would fall by almost 10 million by 2025, alongside a reduction of the total population and an […]
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MOSCOW. Nov 18 (Interfax) – The majority of Russians (76%) are concerned about the decrease of the country’s population, shows a poll conducted by the research group TsIRKON. The poll surveyed 1,600 Russians, including 110 journalists. The poll, which has been obtained by Interfax-Religion, shows that 56% of the respondents believe the reduction of Russia’s population is very dangerous, but […]
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MOSCOW. Nov 13 (Interfax) – One of the reasons why Russia has banned U.S. citizens from adopting Russian children is the demographic issue, Russian children’s rights commissioner Pavel Astakhov said. “We have a demographic forecast: the infant population in Russia will be about 22 million by 2025. And the United States will have 105 [million] by 2025. Is there a […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, November 10, 2013 – Chart here: http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/11/window-on-eurasia-populations-of-former.html) The former Soviet space had 48 million fewer people living on it in 2010 than Soviet demographers in 1990 had predicted for that year, with all 15 of the states having smaller populations than were was projected for them and 10 of the 15 having […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, November 3, 2013) The Kremlin celebrates every temporary uptick in the Russian birthrate, but it and many others typically ignore another deeply troubling aspect of that country’s deteriorating demographic situation: extraordinarily high death rates among adults and especially working-age males. Indeed, those rates are so high Russia ranks 175th among the […]
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(Interfax – September 11, 2013) Less than 10 percent of Russian citizens are ready to accept people from Central Asia who have lived in Russia for a long time as equals, VTsIOM General Director Valery Fyodorov said. “Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Kyrgyz – those who are in most cases called guest workers – only 8 percent of Russians agree to consider […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, September 12, 2013) Russia hosts the world’s largest population of immigrants after the United States, according to a new UN study showing that the number of people living abroad across the globe has reached a record high. New figures released Wednesday by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA) in New York indicated that […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Kristen Blyth – August 13, 2013) In the days of the Soviet Union, abortions were shockingly common. “My grandmother once told me that she had 12 abortions,” Dasha, a Muscovite in her late 20s, told The Moscow News. “My former landlady – she’s 67 now – and I once had a conversation about having children. […]
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(Interfax – NOVO-OGARYOVO, July 30, 2013) The positive dynamic of decreasing death rate can be observed in Russia, Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said. “The results of 2013 show that positive tendencies remain regardless of the flu epidemic we had in January-April,” Skvortsova said at a meeting of the State Council Presidium in Novo-Ogaryovo on Tuesday. The total death rate […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 18, 2013) The sentence of opposition activist Alexei Navalny is affecting the interests of small and middle-sized businesses and will lead to the outflow of young lawyers and businessmen from Russia, leader of the Civil Platform party Mikhail Prokhorov said. “The sentence passed on Alexei Navalny and Pyotr Ofitserov is not just a sentence to the […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 16, 2013) The pursuit of a better life is the primary cause of emigration from Russia, said 54% of respondents acquainted with prospective emigrants. Sixteen percent explained their emigration as a desire for self-actualization, the Russian Public Opinion Study Center (VTsIOM) told Interfax. Five percent of prospective emigrants believe that life abroad is better organized and […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 11, 2013) The death rate in Russia grew by 3,900 year on year in January-May 2013, the Labor and Social Protection Ministry said on Thursday. “Some 813,200 people died in January-May 2013 or 3,900 more than during the relevant period in 2012,” the press service quoted Minister Maxim Topilin. The minister said though that the death […]
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(Kremlin.ru – June 22, 2013) Text of report “XI World Congress of Perinatal Medicine, 22 June 2013, Moscow” published in English by Russian presidential website on 25 June Vladimir Putin spoke at the XI World Congress of Perinatal Medicine being held in Moscow. The congress is taking place in Russia for the first time. Around 2,500 delegates are attending the […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, June 21, 2013) The Russian Federation has only five years [to[ take steps to prevent “a demographic catastrophe” there, according to a group of the government’s own expert aadvisors on this issue; and its neighbor, Belarus, specialists in Mensk say, may have even less time to avoid an even more severe population […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 22, 2013) Russia will get confronted with serious after-effects of the demographic crisis of the 1990s, said President Vladimir Putin. “Our country plunged into a deep demographic crisis in the 1990s. We have not yet felt the upshots of that crisis, but they will manifest themselves in the economy, social sphere and industrial development,” Putin told […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 20, 2013) The birth rate in Russia grew 30 percent since 2007, Russian Minister of Labor and Social Protection Maxim Topilin said on Wednesday. In his interview with the Ekho Moskvy radio station, the minister attributed the trend in part to the introduction of the so-called “maternity capital” on January 1, 2007. “During this period, […]
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(RIA Novosti – June 14, 2013 – Article also appeared at http://en.ria.ru/society/20130614/181666437/Under-16-An-Interactive-Documentary-on-Teen-Motherhood.html) “Under 16: Monologues on Teen Motherhood” is RIA Novosti’s first web documentary. Its title reflects the central story line: All of the girls featured in the film became pregnant under the age of 16, but chose to keep their babies. The viewer can navigate freely, from character to […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 18, 2013) Russia has seen both the number of young people in the country and their share in the total population decline steadily in recent years, an Education Ministry official said on Tuesday. “According to the Federal State Statistics Service, in 2012 there were 31.6 million people in the 15-29 age group making up […]
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(RIA Novosti – GORKI, June 10, 2013) Maternal mortality in Russia has fallen by 55 percent since 2005, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday. “We recently obtained data on a decrease in maternal mortality,” Medvedev said at a meeting of deputy premiers. “Since 2005, or in essence since the start of the national healthcare project, it dropped 2.2-fold.” In […]
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(Interfax – June 6, 2013) The influx of migrants in Russia is becoming alarming, head of the Federal Migration Service Konstantin Romodanovskiy has said, as quoted by Interfax news agency on 6 June. “For the last four years, we have recorded a significant increase in the number of immigrants to Russia. It was especially high in 2012 and 2013. Certainly, […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Yulia Ponomareva, RBTH – June 10, 2013) Within the space of one week, two prominent representatives of the Russian intelligentsia, known for openly voicing their disagreement with the authorities, have announced their political exile. In early June, former world chess champion and opposition leader Garry Kasparov stated at a press conference in Geneva […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 7, 2013) Life span in Moscow has almost reach the level common in Europe, said Moscow’s acting Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. “Muscovites’ life span has increased considerably in recent years, reaching 75.5 years, which is almost as long as in Europe,” he said. The birth rate has risen, too, he said. “About 130,000 births were registered in […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, June 7, 2013) Twenty-two percent of Russians say they would like to move to a foreign country to live and work, up from only 13 percent in 2009, and an indication that the deteriorating political situation in Russia is forcing not only high profile figures like Gari Kasparov but many others as […]
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(Interfax – June 6, 2013) The share of Russian citizens who would like to emigrate has risen to 22 per cent, up from 13 per cent in 2009, private-owned Russian news agency Interfax reported on 6 June, quoting the latest Levada Centre opinion poll. Among students, the figure reaches 45 per cent. The poll was conducted on 23-27 May among […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – May 31, 2013) Reports that prominent, liberal economist Sergei Guriev has fled to France under pressure from investigators appeared to send shockwaves through Russia’s Western-leaning elite this week, renewing fears of a brain drain amid an “invisible” wave of emigration. The departure of Guriev, a prominent economist who has advised Prime Minister […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – May 29, 2013) Senior federal officials on Tuesday discussed at the Kremlin the country’s draft plan for the next 12 years to support families with children and ultimately reverse the natural population decline. As part of the plan to boost Russia’s dwindling population which declined for a 20th consecutive year in […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – May 27, 2013) Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova says the population decline in that country has “stopped.” Speaking at a press conference in Moscow on May 27, Skvortsova said Russia’s birthrate rose by 5.6 percent in 2012, at the same time that antitobacco campaigns and other health measures helped lower the death rate. The United Nations predicts […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 23, 2013) The demographic decline of the ethnic Russians is leading to a hollowing out of predominantly Russian regions, leaving many of them with only a few cities surrounded by a decaying and increasingly empty countryside, according to the latest demographic data. With the release of ever finer-grained data from the […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 8, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/04/window-on-eurasia-70-major-russian.html) Slightly more than one in every six Russians — some 24.5 million people — lives in a company town facing serious economic and demographic decline, with 68 of these 799 places rated as being high risk of complete depopulation unless a new five-year government program can reverse […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, April 4, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/04/window-on-eurasia-life-expectancy-in.html) For the first time in a decade, life expectancy at birth in the Russian Federation has declined, the Russian state statistical agency says, and while the decline was small, demographers say that it reflects a disturbing trend, one that also includes the end of the much-ballyhooed mini-“baby […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – March 28, 2013 – Svetlana Smetanina, special to RBTH) A recent U.N. study shows that induced termination of pregnancy is still prominent in Russia as one of the most widespread methods of contraception [sic]. As the abortion capital of the world, Russia has some of the most liberal abortion laws ever likely to […]
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MOSCOW. March 13 (Interfax) – The birth rate in Russia grew by over 10% year-on-year this January. “Some 158,900 babies were born in January 2013 or 15,100 (10.5%) more babies than the year before. That was the highest January birth rate since the launch of the demographic program. Birth rates tend to be lower in the first month of the […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Ben Aris, special to RBTH – March 11, 2013) Russians’ legendary capacity for hard drinking is finally being challenged by a changing work ethic and a Kremlin crackdown. Faced with Russia’s alarming demographic decline, the government is getting serious about tackling the country’s legendary love of strong liquor. This January, stiff new […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – March 6, 2013) Russia saw virtually no increase in life expectancy from 1990 to 2010 and lagged behind more than 100 countries in the key health statistic over that period, according to a global study released Tuesday. The study, called the Global Burden of Diseases Study 2010, says that while global life […]
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NOVO-OGARYOVO (Moscow region). Feb 27 (Interfax) – Labor Minister Maxim Topilin said Russia’s population could increase to 150 million people instead of the projected 145 million in 2020-2025. “According to our calculations, we can exceed the projected figure of 145 million by 2020-2025, reaching 147 million people, or, according to optimistic predictions, even 150 million people,” Topilin said at the […]
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MOSCOW, February 14 (RIA Novosti) – The infant mortality rate in Russia was 8.7 per 1,000 newborns last year, Health Ministry department chief Yelena Baibarina said on Thursday. “I have cited data from the Russian Federal State Statistics Service. During the 12 months of 2012, infant mortality rate reached 8.7,” she told a congress of pediatricians. Infant mortality in 2011 […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – February 7, 2013) The government reported on Wednesday that there were around 2,500 more deaths than births in Russia last year, representing a steep decline in the natural population loss but also a 20th straight year of natural decrease in the country. President Vladimir Putin and other top officials have in recent […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Aleksandras Budrys – February 6, 2013) The mortality rate in Russia exceeded the birth rate by more than 2,500 people last year contrary to expectations, the press office of the Labor and Social Security Ministry said on Wednesday. Under the government demographic policy to 2025, the country’s population was expected to rise by 100,000 people […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Kirsten Salyer – February 4, 2013) This Valentine’s Day in Russia, do your patriotic duty and make a baby. That’s the message from President Vladimir Putin, who has invited the trio Boyz II Men to perform in Moscow on Feb. 6 as part of an effort to raise the country’s birth rate. The group will sing […]
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