"Russia’s Demographics Turn Positive"

An important story from the Financial Times:

Rising birth rate, tumbling death rate and immigration drives population rebound

In a confusing, chaotic world, there are at least a few certainties we can cling to. One is that Russia’s population and labour force is in terminal decline, undermined by a low birth rate and a chronically high mortality rate.

Like many widely held beliefs, however, the popular view of Russia’s demographics may bear little resemblance to the truth.

“Despite the widely held view of the 1990s the Russia was a ‘dying nation’, to relatively little fanfare the past decade has seen significant improvement across a broad range of indicators [including] large increases in fertility and even more substantial decreases in mortality,” says Chris Weafer, senior partner at Macro Advisory, a Moscow-based consultancy.

“An assumption of Russia’s deteriorating demographics is often cited as a fundamental problem for the country. A closer look at the trends shows the situation to be improving, and previous assumptions of doom to be wrong.”...MUCH MORE

HT: FT Alphaville's Matthew Klein:

There has been a remarkable turnaround in Russia's demographics recently https://t.co/DLzjxQIYX4 pic.twitter.com/Y6XANrFOWP

— Matthew C. Klein (@M_C_Klein) November 3, 2016