Russia stops publishing demographic data
Rosstat statistics on the population will only be available to government experts
Russia’s Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) has stopped publishing data that it collects on the country’s demographic situation.
Information about birth rates, death rates, population, migration, and marriages and divorces was absent from Rosstat’s latest report on socio-economic indicators.
“In the Review of the Socio-Economic Situation of the Russian Federation published [on July 2], the Demography section is simply missing. This data is also missing in the corresponding section on the Rosstat website, where the last update ended in March,” wrote MMI, a Russian macroeconomics Telegram channel with over 100,000 subscribers. “We have been completely deprived of information about the number of people in the country, how many are born, how many die.”
Only government agencies and authorized experts will have access to this once publicly available information. The policy change was criticized as counter-productive by State Duma Deputy Sergei Mironov.
Mironov, who heads the Just Russia—For Truth party, released a statement on July 16 calling on Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin to resume publication of demographic indicators:
“Since March, Rosstat has stopped publishing this data, and the “Demography” section has simply disappeared from the agency’s report on the socio-economic situation in the country for January-May of this year. Information is also not disclosed upon request," explained Sergei Mironov. “At the same time, most regions have followed suit and also stopped publishing data on demography and migration. Unfortunately, all of this is permitted by current regulations. But the issue is not legality, but the fact that closing the data does not solve the most pressing problems. On the contrary, it hinders their understanding and solution.”
As stated in the appeal, “the absence of regular and open official statistics on demography... leads to the undermining of citizens’ trust in government institutions.” It also “damages... forecasting and development of effective demographic policy measures.” In addition, “concealment of data... contributes to the aggravation of intra-state tensions, which grow proportionally to the increase in the number of migrants in the country.”
“Closing the statistics does not make people have fewer questions, especially since the problems are already visible to the naked eye,” said Sergei Mironov. “Let me remind you that last year - this data is still open - the natural population decline reached almost 600 thousand people. And almost as much - 586.5 thousand - was the record increase in migrants. People see that there are more and more newcomers, and fewer and fewer [Russians]. We need to solve problems, and not arrange an ‘information blackout’! The principle of ‘the less you know, the better you sleep’ will not work here. Therefore, in my address to the head of the Government, I ask to declassify demographic statistics. Resume the publication of Rosstat data on birth rates, mortality and migration, and also restore the ‘Demography’ section in the agency’s regular reports.”
The decision to classify demographic data will also make it difficult to independently assess the effectiveness of recent measures aimed at reversing Russia’s demographic crisis.
In November 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on “popularizing state policy in the field of family protection and preservation of traditional family values”, and declared 2024 the “Year of the Family”.
Putin appointed Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, who has no children of her own, to spearhead the initiative. In Russia, Golikova is known as “Madame Arbidol” for enriching herself and her friends by peddling unproven drugs during the swine flu “pandemic” and later COVID.
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The Year of the Family turned out to be a year of anti-records for demography in Russia.
In 2024, Golikova was also tasked with increasing Russia’s total fertility rate (the average number of births per woman) to 1.6 by 2030. This benchmark is not only below the replacement level for a population (a TFR of 2.1), but is also lower than the goal of a 1.7 TFR, set in 2018, that was supposed to be achieved last year.
Russia’s current TFR is 1.4.
On Thursday, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko reassured her fellow citizens that a “demographic special forces” was being created in the Russian government to support “family-centrism”.
Golikova...one glance at her smug visage instantly shrivelled my manhood, inverted it & my body ejected it as a failed organ. Alas, I now contribute to this...shrinking population. 🤷
My impression is that demographic data, along with other key figures in statistics, have been manipulated everywhere, anyway.