The Daily Populous Tuesday July 15th, 2025 day edition
Authored by businessinsider.com and submitted by MothersMiIk

Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to boost his country's falling birthrate.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to boost his country's falling birthrate. Mikhail Metzel/Pool/AFP/Getty Images

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Russia is staring down a long-term economic threat that could outlast both the war in Ukraine and Western sanctions: a deepening demographic crisis.

On Tuesday, Labor Minister Anton Kotyakov underscored the scale of the problem during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

"Today, according to our estimates, by 2030 we need to involve 10.9 million people in the economy," Kotyakov told Putin, according to a post from the Kremlin.

Kotyakov said the number is required to replace 10.1 million people who will reach retirement age, and 800,000 new jobs.

Kotyakov warned that if productivity growth falls short of the assumptions built into the current forecast, there could be "an additional shortage of personnel."

The remarks came during a Kremlin meeting focused on demographics and healthcare. Members of Putin's cabinet discussed efforts to boost birth rates, including financial incentives like cash payouts and tax breaks for large families.

Putin has made population growth a national priority, calling it a matter of " ethnic survival " and encouraging women to have as many as eight children.

In 2024, births in Russia fell to 1.22 million — the lowest level since 1999 — while deaths increased by 3.3% to 1.82 million, according to official data. The country's population was about 146 million last year.

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But boosting birth rates isn't Russia's only challenge. The war in Ukraine has exacerbated labor shortages, with battlefield injuries and deaths cutting into the working-age population and a brain drain pulling younger, educated professionals out of the country.

The demographic outlook is so bleak that the country's population could halve by the end of this century, per a report from the Atlantic Council, a think tank, in August.

Businesses are already feeling the heat. Employers are increasingly turning to retirees and even teenagers to fill roles.

The labor shortage has driven up wages and fueled inflation, adding strain to an economy already distorted by wartime spending.

By the end of 2023, Russia's economy was running so hot that the central bank warned of overheating.

Just last month, Russia's economy minister, Maxim Reshetnikov, warned that the country was "on the brink" of a recession.

ben505 on July 15th, 2025 at 07:51 UTC »

Weird how a stupid war slaughtering & maiming a million+ of your prime young men doesn’t help. There isn’t an infinite number of men at child rearing age. Plus all the ones that left to avoid the meat grinder, which is estimated to be pushing a million lol, even if a chunk came back that’s a staggering number. Add in inflation making having kids a real fucking drag

Martinmex26 on July 15th, 2025 at 07:49 UTC »

That sucks, im sure there is nothing that could be done about it. I am also sure there is no way Russia would waste any men in any sort of way that would be detrimental to its future.

Anyway, we need more people for that next meatwave in Ukraine. Get some more volunteers, we can always offer them a silly made up number of money for a 1 year contract, it is not like they will ever get to see it anyway.

Prize_Instance_1416 on July 15th, 2025 at 07:44 UTC »

North Korea will step up