Russia facing difficult social problems.

Russia's sharply declining population is building to a demographic crisis that is in marked contrast to the country's macroeconomic progress. "A reader of the Economist or the Financial Times would have good reason to be surprised and not a little skeptical about such news," says the well respected author of a review of the situation published in the Spring 2007 edition of Dissent Magazine (New York.)

As shown in the chart to the right, Russia's population is aging, just as populations are all across Europe. The difference in Russia is that life expectancy is also declining. But an even more disturbing trend emerges as one looks deeper into the statistics.

Russia's breadwinners are dying.

They are dying from alcohol poisoning. "Every year in Russia, about 40,000 people die from alcohol poisoning alone," said the Russian President in a speech on April 25, 2005. Breadwinners-young men-are dying from traffic accidents. They are dying from poor healthcare where, "access to hospitals under the corrupt and inadequate health system depends on bribing doctors and nurses," says Dissent.

In addition, the suicide rate in the Russian Federation has increased 50 percent since the 1990s. Dissent says that the AIDS epidemic in Russia is the worst in Europe, and every year there are 120,000 new cases of tuberculosis.

According to the Population Reference Bureau (PRB) the life expectancy at birth of males in Russia is 59 years. The average male life expectancy in Eastern Europe is 63 years. The average male life expectancy in all of Europe is 71 years.

The life expectancy at birth for males in Russia is the absolute lowest of any country in Europe. Russia's total population will decline a staggering minus 22 percent between 2006 and 2050, says the PRB. A 2005 Word Bank report about Russia's mortality problems titled, "Dying Too Young," says, "Mortality rates among the youth and young adults are particularly high in Russia,"-in fact, the highest in Europe.

Among the economic consequences of this demographic crisis detailed by the World Bank are: Fewer workers, the destabilization of families, social and political challenges due to regional disparities, and national security risks.

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