Russia: A Declining Population?

Russia is a staggering name indeed. It is the largest nation in the world with a history of bitter conflicts and was once the proud Soviet Union, that plagued the world with the "Red Fear". Now, after the disintegration of the USSR, modern Russia emerges from the ramshackle communist regime to a capitalist economy, a promise of a brighter future for the new Russian Federation. However, the population of Russia displayed the opposite, is the Russian population in decline?

The current population of Russia hover around 140 million, with only 8 people living per square kilometer, making it one of the world's most sparsely populated nation. Yet, the civilization thrived in the Western region where cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg shelters around 70% of the population. Since the time Michael Romanov re-united Russia, the population had witnessed a slow, yet steady increase. Russia soldiers on to the 19th century with the advent of the industrial revolution, however, with feudal aristocracy and poverty, the population tends to be similar to those of the third world countries which resembles stage 2 of the Demographic Transition Model. In 1917, the prominent Russian Revolution took place, which brought down the monarchy along with the archaic system of serfdom, replacing it with Communism. From then on, the living condition improves for the Russians and its population began to experience a promising increase. With Stalin's five-year plan, the Russian economy improved during the early 20th century as Russia finally became "industrialized".

In the contemporary era, the Russian population ascends until 1991, which bears the population of 148 million, just before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. From then on, the population slowly decreases from its pinnacle in 1991.

Currently Russia's position in the Demographic Transition Model is at stage four, which its figure resembles the iconic hourglass, which this evidence does not only indicate the population's stance, but also the nation's development. Russia could be considered a developed nation in a way, according to the population pyramid shown below, the age group between 14-60, the working age, is significantly higher than other age group indicating low dependency ratio, which one could imply that the country with greater population in the working age would have more production yield, therefore, resulting in a country's advanced development. Thus, with less people depending on each other (0-14, 65+) the population would be likely to transit into the "aging population" where the population pyranmid tends to shrink in younger age groups, similar to developed countries such as Japan. Modern medical care and education clearly causes Russia's birthrate and death rate to decrease. Now, the death rate of Russia is (14 per 1000) surpasses the birthrate (12.5 per 1000), which ultimately results in the populations fall, because there isn't enough birth to compensate for the high annual deaths. Many would question the cause of the staggering death rates, some say its the Russian's lust for alcohol, the Vodka, containing over 30% of alcohol in volume, which results in the lower men life expectance or the harsh unforgiving winters.

In contrast to the world's increasing population racing to the 7 billion line, Russia represents the very opposite, a declining population.

The current population pyramid of Russia, from the US Census Bureau (www.census.gov)