Russia's Dirty Little Secret, a Dire Population Crisis

Thursday, August 14, 2025

For decades, the country has struggled under deeply adverse demographics, with deaths outpacing births and successive waves of mass emigration. Russian officials have tried desperately to mitigate this downward trajectory, but to little avail.

Posted by Corky at 03:57 PM | 11 COMMENTS | permalink

Despite Kremlin programs to boost "maternal capital" and President Vladimir Putin's focus on population growth as a national priority, the number of Russians continues to decline.

Comments

"All this, moreover, has been made significantly worse over the past three-plus years by the Ukraine war. The conflict, and the Kremlin's ongoing need for new troops to fuel its fight, has propelled Russians to leave the country at record-breaking rates.

After the Kremlin's controversial "partial mobilization" in autumn 2023, the Washington Post described the resulting exodus as "a tidal wave on scale with emigration following the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991."

According to a study published by the European University Institute in 2024, more than half of the surveyed expats said they don't plan to return to Russia, even if the war ended, and suggested that the Russian brain drain' may continue unless the country undergoes systematic political change."

much more at the link

And a view from the dissident expat reporter at Inside Russia.

www.youtube.com

#1 | Posted by Corky at 2025-08-14 04:01 PM

You'd have to have your head in the sand to say tis is a secret.

Putin Calls for Women To Work and Have 'Many Children' As Birth Rate Falls
www.newsweek.com

Oh its a CorkyDaBigot thread, now I understand.
Didn't Russia just a few years back announce a program for couples having kids to receive a ukrainian slave?

I mean how did English get the word "slave" anyway?

Not just Russia ...

Japan's annual births fall to record low as population emergency deepens (June 2025)
www.cnn.com

... The number of newborns in Japan is decreasing faster than projected, with the number of annual births falling to another record low last year, according to government data released Wednesday.

The health ministry said 686,061 babies were born in Japan in 2024, a drop of 5.7% on the previous year and the first time the number of newborns fell below 700,000 since records began in 1899. It's the 16th straight year of decline.

It's about one-quarter of the peak of 2.7 million births in 1949 during the postwar baby boom.

The data in a country of rapidly aging and shrinking population adds to concern about the sustainability of the economy and national security at a time it seeks to increase defense spending. ...

List of countries by total fertility rate
en.wikipedia.org

... This is a list of all sovereign states and dependencies by total fertility rate (TFR): the expected number of children born per woman in her child-bearing years. ...

Country ranking by most recent year
en.wikipedia.org

An interesting chart. The United States is ranked #147.