The absolute number of births in Russia has approached one of the lowest levels in history, comparable to the record low recorded in 2000, First Deputy Minister of Health Viktor Fisenko said, Interfax reports.
"Although the total fertility rate in the 2020s is higher than in the early 2000s, the absolute number of births has nearly reached the level of the year 2000, which was one of the lowest in modern Russian history," Fisenko explained.
According to him, this decline is due to an unfavorable age structure and a shrinking number of women of reproductive age.
Fisenko reassured that Rosstat (the Russian Federal State Statistics Service) predicts an increase in birth rate intensity after 2027, with absolute birth numbers expected to rise in the 2030s.
Earlier, it was reported that a new official has been appointed in the Samara region to oversee birth rates and population growth. The responsibility has been assigned to the Deputy Chairman of the Regional Government.