Drink, disease and depression eat away at Russian population
MOSCOW, Feb 22 (AFP) - Emigration, suicide, vodka abuse, abortion, tuberculosis, economic crisis, war ... it is no wonder the population of Russia fell by a post-Soviet record of almost 800,000 people last year, experts say.
There are now almost three million fewer Russians than there were when the Soviet Union collapsed, and analysts are wondering where the depopulation of the world's largest country will end.
Most experts see the population decline continuing due to a low birth rate, which is exacerbated by widespread abortion, and a far higher death rate blamed on formidable alcohol abuse, a failing public health system, a growing AIDS problem and a shockingly high suicide rate.
The statistics speak for themselves. The State Statistics Committee reported on Monday that Russia's population at the end of 1999 was 145.5 million, 2.8 million fewer than in 1992. Last year the population fell by a staggering 784,500, or 0.5 percent.
The number of immigrants fell sharply to 379,700 while the number who emigrated rose to 214,900. Births fell to 1.215 million while deaths increased to 2.14 million.
Georgetown University's Murray Feshback predicted recently that with the birth rate falling sharply, and the death rate climbing, Russia's population would evaporate to just 80-100 million people by 2050.
Russia's birth rate has been hit by the double-whammy of economic crisis, which has made people reluctant to procreate, and the almost blase attitude to abortion here.
The Russian press reported earlier this month that for every birth in the country there are two abortions.
"Russia is on the verge of a demographic crisis because we don't have very many children being born," said Valentin Pokrovsky, head of Russia's Academy of Medical Sciences recently.
Government reports issued in recent years have suggested that the demographic tendencies in the country could be a "threat to national security," with a worse-case scenario predicting a halving of the population by 2050.
"These projections are exaggerated," said Kremlin demographics advisor Vladimir Mukomel. "No expert worth his salt could advance such predictions," he told AFP.
And yet the death rate, which implies that the average Russian man dies at the age of 58, still remains a serious concern.
Alcohol abuse is partly blamed for this, but the re-emergence of tuberculosis, rife in Russian prisons, and a growing AIDS problem are also factors, experts say.
At some 40 people per 100,000 inhabitants meanwhile, Russia's suicide rate is one of the worst in the world. Eight people killed themselves in Moscow on Sunday alone, the Segodnya daily reported, most of them throwing themselves out of windows.
Emigration meanwhile remains popular with more than 200,000 people leaving Russia on average every year.
Economic penury and the growing criminalisation of society is persuading those who can to seek a future elsewhere, an attitude summed up by top soccer star Andrei Tikhonov, who was the victim of a weekend robbery in which his young child narrowly escaped injury.
"I am going to play abroad," Tikhonov told Sport Express daily. "I no longer want to worry about my family every day."
All of which gives acting president Vladimir Putin pause for thought as he pursues his five-month war in Chechnya, which has done little for the country's population growth.
"Vladimir Putin will have no one to rule," moaned the daily Izvestia, looking ahead to March 26 elections which Putin is a clear favourite to win.
"He apparently says that 'for a country like ours we need no fewer than 500 million people'. Unfortunately on this matter you can't just say 'We'll work on it, Vladimir Vladimirovich.'"
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Russian Capital Investment Rises One Percent In 1999
MOSCOW, Feb 22, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Capital investment in Russia rose slightly in 1999 for the first time since economic reforms began in the early 1990s, ITAR-TASS agency said Monday, citing economics ministry figures.
The rise of one percent over 1998, to 598.7 billion rubles ($24.3 billion), was especially strong in the industrial sector, where investment jumped 13 percent to 364 billion rubles.
Areas such as forestry and wood production, chemicals and petro-chemicals, agriculture and food products, and the pharmaceutical industry were the other major beneficiaries, said the agency.
On the other hand, investment into the electrical, oil, and mining sectors was in decline.
The slight rise is still outweighed by continuous decreases in investment since the start of the decade, with a 6.7 percent drop recorded in 1998 alone.
The drop in agricultural investment eased in 1999, but still slipped 4.2 percent, following a 15.9 percent drop a year earlier.