The population of Russia is decreasing to the fastest rate since the worst days of the Coronavirus pandemic, despite the fact that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has declared that reverse demographic trends is the main priority of the country. The Russian birth rate last year was the lowest in a quarter of a century. While, the number of deaths increased for the first time since 2021, peak peak of the pandemic.
In 2024, 1.22 million people were born in Russia, which meant 3.4% less than in 2023. The figure is the lowest since 1999. In addition, the number of deaths increased by 3.3%, to 1.82 million, according to the Russian Russian Statistics Service. The population decrease rate accelerated around 20% compared to 2023, partly due to the war in Ukraine, according to the medium .
“In Russia several factors act simultaneously.” Bloomberg Igor Efremov, independent demographer based in Moscow. Although tens of thousands of men have died in the war, the number of women of fertile age has also decreased, since the age group born in the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, is exceptionally small.
“Even if there had been no war, the natural decline of the population would have been very great,” said the demographer. Efremov estimates that without war the natural decrease of the population would be about 500,000 people a year, compared to the current 600,000. “War has a great impact, but does not fundamentally change the demographic situation,” he said.
To try to alleviate this situation, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, signed last November a law that prohibits the dissemination of ideas that promote a “life without children” online, media, cinema or advertising. Under this law, any person or agency found guilty of this crime would face an administrative sanction between 200,000 and one million rubles (1,800 and 9,200 euros).
The president of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian Federal Assembly, Viacheslav Volodin, said that the firm that the Nuva legislation “in no way is directed against a woman’s decision not to give birth” but is destined to “protect the new generation of destructive tendencies.”
According to Volodin, everything can be done to ensure that new generations of citizens “grow focused on traditional family values”, according to their statements, collected by the Russian news agency TASS.
