Planning better for Russians than the market

Charles Brown CharlesB at CNCL.ci.detroit.mi.us
Thu Dec 7 08:23:04 PST 2000



>>> jkschw at hotmail.com 12/06/00 05:10PM >>>

So what shall we say about the planning that you advocate? Shall we ask some Ukrainian peasants? --jks


>The "market" that Hayek pushes has killed more people than AIDS.
>
>CB
>
(((((((((((((

CB: Although controlled experiments are almost impossible on this level, holding constant for the country , Russia, the evidence is growing that the market has been worse for Russians than planning.

((((((((

Russia's Population To Decline

=====================

by VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV

Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW (AP) -- The steady decline of Russia's population, unprecedented

for an industrialized nation not at war, is likely to last for decades

to come, the head of the government statistics agency said Tuesday.

''The population decline, which started in 1992, will continue for many

years, maybe decades, maybe even a half-century,'' Vladimir Sokolin, the

head of Russia's State Statistics Committee, said at a news conference.

Russia's population has dwindled by 3.3 million since the 1991 Soviet

collapse to about 145 million as of Oct. 1. In the first nine months of

this year alone, the country lost 550,600 people. [communism "murders"

people while capitalism "loses" people. Interesting notion- MS] The State

Statistics Committee forecasts that the population will shrink by 11

million more people in the next 15 years.

While some factors behind the trend, such as the falling birth rate, are

similar to those in Western nations, experts point to economic

depression as the key reason for the population decline. Dismal economic

conditions in the 1990s have led to a dramatic plunge in living

standards, a steady disintegration of the state health care system, and

a corresponding rise in mortality.

According to the latest report from the State Statistics Committee,

Russia's overall average life expectancy fell by about three years

during the last decade to 66 years in 1999. The rate for men was 60

years, 10-15 years less than in Western countries, while the average

life expectancy for women was 72 years, six to eight years less than in

the West.

''The gap between life expectancy for men and women in Russia is one of

the widest in the world,'' said Irina Zbarskaya, the head of

demographics research at the State Statistics Committee. Experts have attributed the gap to increasing alcohol abuse that has taken a harsh

toll on Russian men.

The decline in health care has resulted in a high number of deaths of

babies up to a year old, far exceeding the level in Western countries.

Russia's infant mortality rate, which reached its peak with 20 deaths

per 1,000 births in 1993, has since dropped, reaching just under 16 per

1,000 births last year. But that was still shockingly high compared with

the U.S. infant mortality rate of about 7 deaths per 1,000 births in

1999.

''The infant mortality rate that Russia has is extremely high for a

developed country,'' Zbarskaya said.

The drop in population has been partly compensated by an inflow of

immigrants, mainly ethnic Russians from other former Soviet republics.

But immigration has slowed down, Zbarskaya said.



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list