At a recent meeting with participants of the New Media Festival, Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian president, addressed a critical issue facing the country: the alarmingly low birth rate.
With a current rate of 1.4, the Kremlin spokesperson warned that this figure is catastrophic for the future of the nation.
"We live in the largest country in the world, and our number is decreasing every year," Peskov stated, as reported by Russian news outlet TASS. "And the only way to deal with this is to increase the average birth rate."
He noted that Russia's birth rate is comparable to those of many European countries and Japan, all of which face similar demographic challenges.
"This is catastrophic for the future of the nation," he added.
A video of his speech was shared on the Telegram channel of the New Media Workshop.
According to data from Eurostat, the birth rate for most European countries has been declining for the last four years.
Malta and Spain have a birth rate of less than 1.2; Italy, Norway, Germany, Poland, Greece, and Finland have a birth rate of less than 1.4.
In Japan, the birth rate hit an all-time low of 1.3 in 2023.
The Demographic Challenge
Russia's birth rate crisis, similar to that of Europe and Japan, poses significant challenges.
A birth rate of 1.4 is well below the replacement level of 2.1 needed to maintain a stable population. This decline threatens to exacerbate issues related to an aging population, economic productivity, and long-term national stability.
With new names added daily to the long list of lives lost in the Ukrainian conflict, the Russian population is declining in more ways than just the birth rate.
