Vladimir Putin’s Russia’s population is shrinking. According to statistics, Russia had 148.4 million inhabitants at the time of the Soviet Union’s demise in 1991. While the Russian Federation now has somewhat fewer than that amount — 144 million — it hints to a larger tendency when compared to the rest of the world.
Putin is well aware of his country’s birth rate issue.
In 2006, he announced a strategy encouraging families to have more children, and in 2018, one of the main orders of the Russian Federation’s National Goals and Strategic Objectives was to achieve “sustainable natural population increase.”
Speaking in November 2021, when soldiers remained massed along Ukraine’s border, Russia’s long-reigning President referred to population estimates as “insufficient” for the country’s “huge land.”
At a news conference, he stated, “From a humanitarian standpoint, from the standpoint of building our country, and from an economic standpoint, the population problem is one of the most critical.”
“We have little more than 81 million individuals of working age,” Putin added. We must boost the number by 2024 and 2030.
“This is one of the aspects that contribute to economic growth.” Not to mention the geopolitical ramifications of this enormous problem.”
Despite his efforts, the statistics have remained stagnant, with an average of 1.5 children per woman.
Demographers believe that for a population to expand, this value should be around 2.1.
The problem is exacerbated by a lower life expectancy – Russians die over a decade earlier on average than Brits, according to an Oxford University research published in UnHerd.
Moreover, during the coronavirus epidemic, government statistics revealed more than one million extra fatalities, dwarfing Putin’s official death toll of 360,000, making Russia one of the countries with the greatest levels of excess mortality in the world.
These unfavourable numbers are said to be part of the reason Putin invaded Ukraine in the first place – to bring the region back into what he refers to as the Russian “family.”
However, evidence is growing that the protracted war may aggravate the situation, as sanctions drive Russia into recession and educated professionals and young people move to better-paying jobs in other nations.
According to lya Kashnitsky, assistant professor at Denmark’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Population Dynamics, “Putin is shooting himself in the foot with this absurd battle.”
“The greatest casualties will result not from the battle, but from Russia’s grave economic catastrophe.”
People are already fleeing the economic and social consequences of Putin’s conflict, resulting in a “brain drain.”
According to the Russian parliamentary investigation, between 50,000 and 70,000 computer employees have deserted the nation since the war began.
Israel has apparently established a “green path” for migrants from Ukraine and Russia, with a focus on persons working in robotics, aeronautics, and nanotechnology.
According to Jean-Christophe Dumont, chairman of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) international migration section, “almost as many Russians as Ukrainians have migrated to Israel since the start of the conflict.”
