ABSTRACT
According to demographers the present situation in Russia is catastrophic. The serious economic crisis of the 1990s led to a huge reduction in the birth rate while mortality was on the increase, and not only amongst the elderly. The slow increase in life expectancy which began in the 1960s halted and, for the first time in 1992, the number of deaths exceeded the number of births. According to government forecasts the population of Russia will decrease by a further eight per cent in the next decade. Russia already lags behind developed countries in life expectancy. Population decline presents Russia with a strategic problem. Large areas of the country are already under-populated and, ultimately, there may be too few Russians to retain their existing territory. It is the central regions of Russia which are declining fastest. Of the major cities, only Moscow is expanding, due to immigration. In many other major cities the number of deaths exceeds the number of births by two or three to one. The politically unstable Caucasus region is the only major area of population growth.
