Russia’s population will stop declining in two years – Medvedev

File Photo of Russian Crowd, with Russian Flag Being Waved

MOSCOW. Nov 29 (Interfax) – Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Russia’s population may stabilize at the level of some 143 million people in two years.

“We can stabilize the country’s population by 2015 at a level of 142-143 million despite the current negative forecasts and increase life expectancy of 74 years by 2018,” Medvedev told the government on Thursday.

He said the appropriate programs are aimed just at that.

Speaking about the birth rate, Medvedev said almost 1.5 million children were born in Russia in January-September 2012. “It’s 80,000 more children than the number of children born in the same period in 2011,” the prime minister said.

Russia has seen a natural population increase for the past few months, Medvedev said. In September alone, it reached 11,500 people, which is almost three times more than was seen in September 2011.

“It’s a good indicator. It’s just a key indicator,” Medvedev said.

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