Russia loses one million people every year

The current national reproduction in Russia combines the European birth rate and the African death rate

The Russian population is becoming extinct. The nation loses from 500 thousand to one million people every year, which makes not less than 0.64 percent of the national population. The annual losses in central regions of the European part of Russia make up 1.0 percent.

Three human beings are born and four die in today's Russia every minute. The birth and death rate statistics in other countries is totally different: 38 people come into life and only 16 pass away in China, the index is 8 to 4 in the USA and 8 to 3 in Africa. Forty-eight births and only 17 deaths are registered every minute in India. The birth and death rate are almost the same in Europe and Japan, although one may observe a certain natality in several most developed countries of the world.

The above-mentioned statistics was presented in the report about the demographic doctrine of Russia, which was prepared by a special workgroup with first class advisor, Yury Krupnov, at the head.

The authors of the report tried to look into the matter of the incredible demographic setback and offer several solutions to extricate from the national crisis. “There is a large group of political and public figures and even scientists, who say that the current demographic situation in Russia is an absolutely normal process,” Krupnov said. It goes about a concept of the so-called demographic transition, at which the family planning priority changes in favor of having one or two children in order to add more appreciation to human life. Yury Krupnov is certain that such an approach is absolutely wrong.

The current regime of the population reproduction in Russia combines the European birth rate and the African death rate. UN experts believe that the Russian population is likely to drop below the level of 100 million people. “No one actually knows what it is now happening in Russia in terms of the demographic situation. However, it is about time one should introduce the state of emergency across the nation.” There can be a lot of versions found to explain the phenomenon, although it is clear that Russia is facing the demographic problem, the roots of which are not clear yet.

”One has to find out the reasons, which actually lead to the extra death rate. The situation in Russia can be compared to the one in Belarus, or in the former German Democratic Republic, where the death rate is also high. Both the Belarussian and German authorities can hardly be reproached for the lack of attention to their own peoples. One has to try to understand, why the death rate in the USSR increased 1.5 times during the 1970s, while the state was doing everything for young families. On the other hand, the general state of health of Soviet people improved considerably during the peak of the Great Patriotic War. What were the reasons, which halved the death rate in all states of the Eastern block before 1964?” Doctor of Medical Sciences, Igor Gundarov said.

The economic situation in the country does not have a decisive influence on the state of health and the natality of the population. Igor Gundarov believes that Russia will be able to extricate from the demographic crisis, if it increases its population up to 250 million before 2050. “One can use medical measures for it too. There are about seven million family couples, who want to have children by means of in-vitro fertilization. However, there are hardly any IVF laboratories in Russia – they have been able to help only 12,000 couples during several years of their existence. The total of 120-150 IVF labs would be enough for Russia,” the specialist said.

The Russian government, in the face of the Minister for Economic Development and Trade, German Gref, sets forth the only suggestion to meet the demographic challenge – to create better conditions for immigration. The government, however, does not offer any schemes and mechanisms for it, which might lead to a massive migration of uneducated natives of the Caucasus and Southeast Asia.

Russia can already witness negative consequences of the population extinction. The situation is extremely abnormal in the Asian part of Russia, where the basic reserves of the national natural wealth are concentrated. The current demographic trend does not allow to talk about the normal development of the country in the future. Unfortunately, Russia does not have a state agency that would be dealing with demographic problems on the practical level.

Sergei Malinin