Population Matters Policy Brief: Dire Demographic Trends Cast a Shadow on Russia's Future

Recent demographic trends in Russia have caused widespread public concern. For example, in his State of the Nation Address to the Duma in July 2000, President Vladimir Putin said, Year by year, we, the citizens of Russia, are getting fewer and fewer. ... We face the threat of becoming a senile nation. Russia has experienced unusually high death rates from nonnatural causes, many related to alcoholism and an increase in mortality that is unprecedented for an industrialized nation at peace. At the same time, the fertility rate has declined to among the worlds lowest, while a high rate of abortion poses significant health problems. Deaths have exceeded births since 1992.