Russia's population rate is collapsing at its quickest rate since the Covid pandemic, according to new analysis. Data from the World Bank shows that Russia's population has been shrinking over the course of the last decade.
However, the decline has accelerated over the past year, despite repeated Kremlin attempts to reverse the trend. Births in Russia fell to 1.22 million (-3.4%), the lowest in 25 years, while deaths rose 3.3% to 1.82 million, according to an analysis carried out by Bloomberg. Moreover, forecasts predict the population will continue to decrease by 700,000 each year during this decade, peaking in 2035.
The Russian President has repeatedly called on women to have more babies, in a desperate bid to reverse the trend.
He has also previously warned that Russia's ethnic survival depended on families having at least two children, preferably three.
The Kremlin has introduced a number of policies designed to encourage women to have babies.
One such scheme was introduced in December and involves making payments to pregnant students enrolled in universities and vocational schools.
Pregnant students stand to receive between £682 and £2,160 depending on the region where they are living.
The initiative has now been extended to pregnant schoolgirls in the Oryol region, who will be offered about £900 to have babies.
Russia used to have high adolescent pregnancy rates, but these have decreased since the fall of the Soviet Union.
The annual number of births per 1,000 women aged 15–19 comprised 55.0, 44.8, 27.4, and 21.5 in 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2016, respectively. In 2022 that figure was just 14.
Russia currently has a population of 144 million people. However, it has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world.
According to 2022 data, Russian women on average gave birth to 1.42 children, well below the 2.1 target needed to maintain its population.
Rosstat, Russia's official statistics agency, has predicted the population could fall to 130 million by 2046 due to the double whammy of declining immigration and low birth rates.
