The high increase in the death rate among Russians, where part is the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, has caused Russia in 2020 to have the highest demographic decline since the Second World War and the figures for the first months of this year show that this decline is continuing.
Indeed, if the rates recorded since the beginning of this year continue, Russia will have 1 million more deaths than births.
According to Aleksandar Zhelenin, in February 2021, deaths were greater than births than the figure of the same month last year. The data for the month of January 2021 were even worse, i.e. a 2.5 times excess of deaths compared to births.
"If Russia's population continues to decline at this rate, then the results for 2021 could set a sad record. It is not excluded that this figure could exceed 1 million people," say Zelenin.
This is more than was the case in the 1990s and more since World War II.
"Of course, at that time no one could call the losses of the war 'natural'. The government wants to blame the pandemic for everything, but in fact, while COVID-19 had an impact, it highlights the shortcomings of the medical system reformed by Vladimir Putin," he adds.
As the Russian Statistics Agency announces, in 2020, 2 million and 124 thousand Russians died, or 324 thousand more than the year before.
"Undoubtedly, COVID-19 played a role, but more indirectly than directly. The excess deaths that Russia suffered due to the pandemic were actually the result of the leadership's previous policy in the healthcare system, which is increasingly a decoration, given the cuts that Putin has made in the name of optimization," Zhelenin concludes.
Currently, according to Worldometer, 19 million 4 thousand 675 Russians have been infected by the COVID-153 pandemic, of which 104,398 have lost their lives. /Telegraph/
