The area of Russia is approximately 17.07 million square kilometers, which puts the country in first place in the world in this indicator. The population density in Russia is 8.6 people per square kilometer, that is, it is one of the lowest on the planet. By the number of inhabitants (144 million people), the country takes 9th place in the world, but the demography of Russia is going through a difficult stage at the present time.
General information on the population of Russia
Speaking about the demography of modern Russia, we note that according to the 2002 census, 145 million people lived in the country, of which 103 million were in the European part of the country and 42 million in the Asian part. The latest census of 2010 revealed that 143.84 million people live in the country: 105.21 million in the European part; 37.63 million in Asian.
Russia's demography is ethnically diverse: the majority of the country's population belongs to the Eastern Slavs, about 8.4% belong to the Turkic peoples, 3.3% are Caucasians, 1.9% come from the Urals and other national minorities.
Russian Empire at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries
Consider the question of the history of the development of demography in Russia, starting from the end of the 19th century. Under the tsarist regime, the territory of the Russian Empire was constantly increasing. With the accession of new territories, the state included more and more peoples. This process continued until the beginning of the 20th century. As a result, at the end of the 19th century, according to the census of 1897, 129 million people lived in the Russian Empire.
In the period of the late XIX - early XX centuries, the evolution of the development of demography in Russia was favorable. The main feature of this period is the high birth rate, which blocked the high mortality rate. The natural population growth in these years was 1.6-1.7%. By the end of 1913, the population of the Russian Empire lived mainly in rural areas, urbanization was only 15%.
Migration processes in Tsarist Russia
Migration processes that had a serious impact on the demography of Russia during the late XIX - early XX centuries are primarily associated with the inclusion of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Caucasus as part of the Russian Empire and the development of close ties with the Central Asian republics (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and others ), as well as with the Baltic territories (Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania). Note that almost all the annexed territories to the Russian Empire were sparsely populated, which stimulated waves of migrants from central Russia to new free lands.
According to the research of V.M. Moiseenko, from 1796 to 1916 about 12.6 million people migrated to its borders from the European part of Russia. If we subtract migrants to Siberia, the Far East and the North Caucasus from this number and take into account only immigration to the nearest European countries, this number will be about 7 million people. These conclusions are confirmed by the following figures regarding the history of the development of demography in Russia: from 1863 to 1897, the population of the European part of Russia grew from 61.1 million to 93.4 million people, that is, the growth rate was 1.2% per year. At the same time, in the Asian territory of the Russian Empire, this figure was 3.9% per year (from 8.8 million to 32.9 million people).
Soviet Russia
The Soviet stage (1917-1991 years of the existence of the Soviet Union), although it takes a relatively short period of time, is an important component in the question of the historical demography of Russia. This period is characterized by a catastrophic effect on the country's population of a number of political, military and economic events:
- end of World War I;
- 1917 revolution and subsequent civil war;
- famine of 1921-1923 and 1933;
- Stalinist political repression of the 1930s-1940s;
- war with Finland;
- The Second World War;
- famine of 1947;
- participation in external local military conflicts, for example, in Afghanistan.
Among all these events, two world wars, Stalin's purges and famines, which had a negative impact on the country's population growth, should be specially noted.
It should also be noted the phenomenon of forced emigration during this period of tens of thousands of Russians to European countries and America.
The period between the two world wars
This difficult period for the demography of Russia is characterized by the loss of 2.3 million people in the First World War and about 0.7 million people in the revolution and civil war. These events led to an imbalance between the male and female population of the country. So, according to the 1926 census, the female population exceeded the male population by 3 million people. If we add to these figures many human deaths from starvation and epidemics, we get that about 7 million people died between 1917 and 1926. Nevertheless, the high birth rate in these years contributed to the relatively rapid recovery of the lost population.
The period from 1927 to 1940 is characterized by the development of industrialization in the USSR and the establishment of collective farms (collective farms). The centralization of power and the planned economy of these years led to the forced migration of the active working population from Ukraine, Belarus and European Russia to Siberia and Central Asia. According to general estimates, 29 million people were affected by forced migration. All this led to a sharp decline in the birth rate in the 1930s.
It should also be noted the famine of 1932-1933, as a result of which the population of Russia lost 3 million people.
Speaking about Russia's demographics by years, we note that from 1917 to 1940, the country's population increased from 93.6 million to 111.1 million people, migration processes from union republics to Russia made a big contribution to this increase.
World War II and the post-war period
The demography of Russia during the Second World War suffered the most severe blow in the history of the country. So, according to official figures, the USSR lost about 27 million people dead and missing, of which 14 million were in Russia. Low birth rates, high mortality and hunger have led to a natural reduction in Russia's population by 10 million people.
In the first years after the war, about 3 million people returned from prisons and German concentration camps, 60% of them remained to live on the territory of the Soviet Union.
As a result, in 1940 the population of Russia was 111.1 million people, in 1945 it was equal to 101.4 million people, and remained the same until 1950. Slow growth begins only in the early 1950s.
Demographics of the Russian population from the 1950s to 1991
This time is characterized by the restoration of a high birth rate in Russia, as well as a decrease in mortality due to the development of medicine and the emergence of a massive number of antibiotics. As a result, already in 1955 the country's population reached the pre-war level, and until the mid-1970s its growth continued due to natural growth.
As for migration processes in Russia, in the 1960s the situation began to change radically. So, if until that time there was a constant stable outflow of the population from Russia to the Union republics, now there are migration flows from the periphery to Russia, which is associated with the appearance of unemployment in the republics of the Caucasus and Central Asia due to the rapid growth of the local population.
The first republic that the Russian population began to leave was Georgia. Then this process touched other Union republics, for example, in the period from 1979 to 1988, 700 thousand people migrated from Kazakhstan to Russia, and about 800 thousand people from all other Asian republics. It should be noted that the emigration of the Russian population from the territories of the Soviet republics was associated not only with economic reasons, but towards the end of the existence of the USSR relations between Russia and other republics began to worsen.
Despite the complexity of the demographic processes in Russia during the Soviet period, by the beginning of the 1990s there was a positive dynamics in the country's population, and in 1991 148.7 million people lived in Russia.
The demographic crisis of the late 1990s - early 2000s
Speaking about the demography of modern Russia, it should be noted the difficult situation in the first decade after the collapse of the USSR. Thus, according to the 2002 census, the population of Russia decreased by 1.8 million people compared to 1989, which is associated with a sharp decline in the birth rate, as well as increased mortality rates. Male mortality in the 1990s and 2000s was particularly high, its main causes are alcohol abuse and a large number of homicides and suicides. As a result, the average life expectancy of men in Russia in the early 2000s was only 61.4 years, while women lived on average 73.9 years. Such a large gap in life expectancy between women and men is difficult to find in any other modern country.
Statistics on the years of demography in Russia indicate that the decline in the country's population continued until 2009. From this moment, the situation begins to stabilize mainly due to immigration to the territory of Russia.
Emigration and immigration after the collapse of the USSR
The collapse of the USSR had a strong influence on the dynamics of Russia's demography. At the same time, both the processes of immigration from Russia and the processes of emigration to the country intensified. In particular, about 30% of all emigrants came to Russia from Kazakhstan, about 15% from Uzbekistan.
As for the processes of migration from Russia, in view of the difficult economic situation in it, Germany should be noted as the main countries of immigration (386.6 thousand Russians left for this country from 1997 to 2010), Israel (73.7 thousand), USA (54.4 thousand), Finland (11.7 thousand) and Canada (10.8 thousand).
Birth Control Policies
Stabilization of the Russian population is currently supported by positive migration from the former Soviet republics, however, it is obvious that decisive political measures must be taken to develop natural population growth.
In this regard, the Russian government has developed and continues to develop social programs that are designed to stimulate an increase in the birth rate in the country. So, in 2005, the Health program was launched, which is designed to solve the problems of the physical health of the nation. In 2007, a program was launched that provides economic assistance to families with 2 or more children. Since 2011, the Housing program began to operate, the goal of which is to facilitate the acquisition of housing by young families with children.
Despite all the measures taken by the government, the problems of demography in Russia remain relevant. So, the average birth rate, which shows the number of children born to one woman on average, in 2016 in Russia was 1.76, while for full reproduction of the population it should be more than 2.
Demographic projections
Despite the fact that in 2013 the number of births per 1000 inhabitants of the country was equal to the number of deaths, a low average birth rate will lead to a decrease in the number of young people in the country (from 15 to 30 years old) to 25 million people by 2025 - 2030. For comparison, we note that this number in 2012 was 31.6 million people.
According to many estimates, if a large family is not to be revived in the next decade, then by the end of the XXI century the number of inhabitants of Russia will decrease by 1/3 and amount to 80 million people.