Russia’s
population numbers are declining “catastrophically” with several regions vastly
underestimating their death rates, a top government official has said.
Russia has struggled with a
demographic crisis in recent years, with population numbers fallingfor the
first time in a decade to 146.8 million last year. Official data for 2019
places Russia’s population at 146.7 million, declining by
149,000 people in the first four months of the year.
“That
means our birth rates are falling,” Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said
on Tuesday, adding that death rates are declining “not as fast as we’d like.”
“We’re catastrophically losing
the population,” she stressed at talks with medical officials in St.
Petersburg, the state-run TASS news agency reported.
Golikova blamed the authorities
of “many” regions for lowballing mortality figures “in pursuit of good
indicators.”
The Voronezh region, she said,
had submitted cancer death rate figures for 2018 that showed a minuscule growth
of 1 percent. By 2019, the increase has ballooned to 20 percent, Golikova was
quoted as saying.
Last month, the UN forecast that
Russia’s population could halve by 2100.
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