Moscow, 19 April: Russia's population decreased by 160,200 people (0.1 per cent) in January-February 2002, the Russian State Statistics Committee reported on Friday [19 April].
As of 1 March 2002, Russia's population stood at 143.8m people, compared with 144.7m a year ago, the State Statistics Committee said.
The decrease of the Russian population has somewhat slowed down against January-February 2001. In the first two months of 2001, Russia's population decreased by 163,900 people (also 0.1 per cent)...
Both the birth rate and mortality rate have increased in Russia against January-February 2001.
The birth rate increased more intensively. In January-February 2002, 222,800
children were born in Russia (compared with 207,300 in the same period of 2001) and 403,600 people died (compared with 385,200 in January-February 2001). Thus, the number of children born increased by 7.5 per cent, while the number of people who died increased by only 4.8 per cent. Nonetheless, while
in January-February 2001 the natural decrease of Russia's population reached
177,900, in January-February 2002 it increased to 180,800 (1.6 per cent).
The divorce rate in Russia has exceeded the number of marriages registered and is constantly growing, while the number of marriages registered is decreasing. In January-February 2002, 115,700 marriages were registered in Russia against 133,600 in the same period of last year (a 13.4-per-cent decrease), the divorce rate being 144,300 against 118,900 last year (a 21.3-per-cent increase).