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[mack4289]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/06/europe/letter.php

"It is a tragedy touching millions. Sixty years after World War II, Russians are dying younger in peacetime than their grandparents did under Stalin. They are having fewer children, and many are falling mortally ill from alcohol-related diseases."

Actually, Russians lived to be 214 on average during the Stalin era, with an average height of 3.5 meters. Seriously, should you quote Stalin-era numbers with a straight-face? Anyway, it's pretty bad in Russia.

""A terrible demographic crisis is taking place," said Nikolay Petrov, a specialist on Russian society at the Carnegie Center in Moscow. "Over the next 20 years, Russia will need 20 million immigrants to compensate for the labor shortage. This is the first time in which the population and labor force are declining together. It will have an enormous impact on Russia's economic and strategic ambitions."

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has only recently acknowledged part of the problem by promising more money for mothers who have a second child. Petrov said the root causes - cardiovascular diseases caused by alcoholism and smoking - were not being tackled.

Since 1992, Russia's population has fallen 3 percent, to 143.8 million from 148.7 million. Other countries have experienced sharp declines over the same period - in Bosnia, the war reduced the population by 10 percent, while emigration sapped the populations of Armenia and Kazakhstan. In the case of Russia, domestic and social reasons, not war or emigration, are draining the country of its people.

... Life expectancy of Russian men is below 60 years, compared with 67 years in 1985 and 63 years in the early 1950s. They are also living 16 years less on average than their male counterparts in Western Europe and (pay particular attention to this part- Russia will be the Mecca for desperate single men in the future) 14 years less than Russian women because of their lifestyle.

A report by the World Health Organization showed that heart disease, aggravated by alcoholism and tobacco, account for more than 1.2 million deaths - nearly half the total - each year. Alcoholism, too, is one of the main reasons for road traffic accidents and injuries at the workplace. While alcoholism affects fertility, demographers said, the trend toward increased female infertility is also caused by abortions and the increase in HIV-AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections.

... I am not sure the Kremlin has acknowledged the impact of the demographic trends for realizing these ambitions," Petrov said. "For instance, there will be a serious shortage of army conscripts. Yet the necessary military reforms have not yet been introduced to deal with this." Russia's internal security could be jeopardized as well. Marquez said: "Russia is a vast country with very long borders. Some of the border regions are being depopulated. Who is going to defend the borders?"

The economy, too, will suffer. "There is a big shortage of skilled labor," said Alexander Lehmann, senior economist and specialist on Russia's macroeconomy at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London. "In 2007, Russia's labor force reached a peak of 90 million. It will be 15 million fewer by 2020. This will be a fairly substantial burden on economic growth. It will be more difficult to sustain high growth rates."

Indeed, those who are dying prematurely or falling ill are in the most productive age group. According to the World Bank, the probability of a Russian aged 18 years surviving to retirement age is 50 percent, compared with 90 percent for a British citizen. "This is a major loss for society," Marquez said.

... The World Bank and the National Center for Preventive Medicine in Moscow have estimated that the overall cost associated with reported workdays lost to illness varies between 0.55 percent and 1.37 percent of gross domestic product

... "If current rates of ill health and disability continue, the healthy life expectancy of Russian males will fall to 53 years," Marquez said."

[jinju]

Im not shedding any tears. Russia has been a menace since the beginning.

[Alyallen]

I remember reading a an article about Russia where people were so desperate for alcohol after a computer glitch temporarily shut down the vodka pipeline (no joke) that people were drinking perfume, antifreeze, anything they could get their hands on for a fix.

Putin has really dropped the ball on this one. You can't have that many people dropping dead and NOT notice....

[idonojacs]

Alyallen

[Alyallen]