Putin believes that population size is power but it looks like he has only made Russia's demographic problems worse with the war.










With a slumping birth rate, a death rate on the rise and immigration slowly falling, Russia is experiencing population decline. Despite having launched some of the most encouraging childbirth policies, Putin is now facing a major problem for someone who believes population is synonymous with power, says French demographer Laurent Chalard.

Russia’s population has been declining at a dizzying rate for the past 30 years. The demographic trend has been steadfast since 1991, when the Soviet Union fell and Russia counted 148.2 million inhabitants within its far-reaching borders. By 2021, that number had fallen to 146.1 million, according to Russian statistics agency Rosstat. What’s even more striking is that, according to demographic projections, the country’s population will continue to fall and reach between 130 and 140 million inhabitants by 2050.

“Russia is paying the cost of the 90s,” explains Alain Blum, a demographer at the National Institute for Demographic Studies (INED) in France. “When the Soviet Union fell, the country plunged into a serious demographic crisis. For the first time, Russia’s mortality rate significantly exceeded its birth rate, leading to a decline in its population.” By the early 2000s, Russia had a population of only 143 million.

“Today, people of childbearing age are those who were born during that period, and there simply aren’t enough of them to drive population growth,” the researcher explains. Especially given that Russia is also facing an increased mortality rate at the moment as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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