The size of the Russian Federation population, estimated at 144.8 million in 2000 has fallen by 3.5 million in the period 1992–2000. The decline would have been even greater had it not been for net immigration during the early 1990s due to the resettlement in the Russian Federation of ethnic Russians returning from other Soviet republics.

A portion of the natural population decrease (about 40% in the late 1990s) is made up for by a positive migratory balance with the former Soviet republics. The largest influx has been from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine, with most migrants being ethnic Russians. However, internally Russia is divided into two zones, one gaining and the other losing population. The northern and eastern parts of the Federation are losing population, while the southern border regions of the European part of Russia and the Urals, as well as the central region and western Siberia are gaining (2). The population is aging, as the proportion of people aged below 15 years fell from 22.9% in 1991 to 19% in 1999 and the proportion of people aged over 64 increased from 10.2% to 12.5% (1).

1. Economist Intelligence Unit, Country Profile, Russia, 2001.

2. WHO Regional Office for Europe, Highlights on Health in the Russian Federation, November 1999.