25 September 2003 08:37
Russian rural population shrinking because of premature deaths - deputy PM
Cheboksary, 24 September: Premature death rate is the most acute demographic problem among the rural population of
Russia, Deputy Prime Minister Galina Karelova told an all-Russian conference on social development of rural territories
in Cheboksary today.
The rural population of Russia currently stands at just under 39m people, or 27 per cent of the total population;
last year alone it "decreased by 346,000 people", and "the trend is gathering pace," Karelova
emphasized. The death rate exceeds the birth rate in 75 [out of 89] Russian regions.
According to Karelova, the death rate "is rising in all age groups among the rural population, above all among
able-bodied people". The most alarming fact is that "in the last two years, the steepest rise in death rate
was among young people aged 30 to 39".
In order to reverse the situation, the government and regions should "carry out not occasional but systematic
work for many years to come on social development of the countryside", Karelova believes.
[ITAR-TASS news agency] |
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