Wisconsin Russia Project postdoctoral fellow Alexandra Lukina speaks about Russia’s recent demographic trends, focusing on birth and death rates, international migration, and forecasts of Russia’s age-sex structure. A thorough look into the statistics enables the study of fertility rate dynamics and the effects of some pro-family programs. Dynamics of mortality rates and life expectancy at birth are briefly analyzed as well. The talk also examines different aspects of international migration processes, such as migration control measures, migrant transfers (remittances), and “brain drain”. Various population forecasts, including the Federal State Statistics Service forecasts and Lukina's own forecast, are analyzed and compared. Some reasons for Russia’s population decline are discussed.
