>From: Rick Rozoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >"People are in a bad mood and only thinking of >survival. Health indicators are dropping. Few people >want to bring children into this." >- - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - >"The implications of this are catastrophic. The >population of Asia is growing rapidly, while Russia's >huge territory is becoming depopulated." > - - - -- - - -- - - - - -- - - - - - - - -- -- -- - >"Russians may feel they're all going to die anyway, so >what's to lose?" >______________________________________________________ >(Almost a decade of IMF/Harvard Business School- >mandated "reforms" have led Russia to an impasse >where, as the most recent figures indicate, the life >expectancy of a Russian is 56 years - lower than most >'official' Third World nations.) > > >Hindustan Times >February 24, 2000 > >ëRussia on the verge of demographic crisisí >Fred Weir (Moscow, February 23) > >If the current steep population decline continues, >Russia could, by mid-century, be incapable of manning >its industry, supporting its senior citizens or >defending its long Siberian frontier, say analysts. > >"Russia is on the verge of a demographic crisis >because we don't have very many children being born," >says Valentin Pokrovsky, head of the Russian Academy >of Medical Sciences. "If this trend does not change >within 20 years we will face serious economic and >social difficulties." > >Russia's population has been plummeting for almost a >decade, due to a post-Soviet cocktail of bad news: >spiralling poverty, disease, pollution, accidents, >alcoholism, war and political instability. > >As the former Soviet healthcare system collapsed, >Russia was hit by new epidemics such as AIDS and >drug-resistant tuberculosis, and saw the return of old >diseases such as cholera, typhus and diphtheria. > >Alcoholism has skyrocketed. Nearly 35,000 Russians die >of alcohol poisoning every year, compared to 300 in >the United States. "People are in a bad mood, and only >thinking of survival," says Vladimir Petukhov, an >analyst with the Institute of Social and National >Problems in Moscow. "Health indicators are dropping. >Few want to bring children into this." > >The past year saw the biggest drop yet, according to a >new report from the State Statistics Committee. Deaths >outnumbered births in 1999 by 784,000, or half a >percentage point. > >In the past 8 years, Russia's population has shrunk by >2.8 million, or more than two per cent, and now stands >at 145.6 million people. Projections suggest there >will be as few as 130 million Russians by 2020 if the >trend continues. > >"The implications of this are catastrophic," says >Yevgeny Zhilinsky, a demographer with the Institute of >Population Economics in Moscow. "The population of >Asia is growing rapidly, while Russia's huge territory >is becoming depopulated." > >Russian women currently have an average of just 1.3 >children each, far below the 2.1 kids per woman that >would be needed to maintain the present population. >Six of every 10 Russian marriages end in divorce, one >of the world's highest rates. > >Experts say Russian women, who are well-educated and >emancipated from tradition, are following their >Western sisters in putting off childbirth into their >thirties and then having fewer offspring. > >"We have this crushing paradox of First World family >attitudes combined with Third World economic >conditions, which is creating a terrible squeeze," >says Mr Petukhov. > >There are now three Russians of working age for each >pensioner, but experts say that figure could be >reversed within 50 years. "Already there are labour >shortages in some areas," says Mr Zhilinsky. "And this >is happening in an economy that's in deep recession". > >Russian nationalists have been sounding the alarm for >years, and warning that world's largest country may be >unable to defend its vast empty spaces if it does not >start raising new generations of soldiers. > >Murray Feshbach, one of the world's leading experts in >Russian demography, warned in a recent conference that >the population crisis could make Russians more >dangerous to themselves and the world. > >"They might follow a leader who would be more prone to >use nuclear weapons to redress the lack of >conventional resources," he said. "Russians may feel >they're all going to die anyway, so what's to lose?" > > >__________________________________________________ >Do You Yahoo!? >Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! 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