Les Jones

Population > Russia's Population Decline Slowing

Strategypage - More babies, less oil:

Russia is reversing its population decline, which began before the Cold War ended, and accelerated after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Births were up 14 percent last year (to 1.6 million), over 2006. At its worst, a few years ago, the Russian population was declining 750,000 a year. A growing economy, more health consciousness and more pro-family laws have all contributed to this. Still, it will be another decade or two before the decline will halt. By then, the Russian population will be under 140 million. It went down 200,000 last year, to 142 million. At this rate, it would be under 100 million by 2050. That, however, is being reversed.

Russia has been headed towards extinction-level population loss. Contrary to the first sentence of the Strategypage article excerpted above, Russia's population decline has not yet reversed. The population there is still in decline, but the decline is now at a somewhat slower rate and if the trend continues they'll begin restoring some of their population.