Russia population shrinks by half a million during COVID-19 pandemic: Report

The population of Russia has shrunk for the first time in the past 15 years, the country’s statistics agency said on January 29. With the pandemic pushing the country into crisis, experts attributed the decline primarily to COVID-19 induced deaths, low birth rate and increased migration. President Vladimir Putin has long called for measures to increase the population and opined that low income was one of the main cause for the country’s diminishing population.

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‘Pandemic is the main cause’

Russia has reported over 72,185 deaths solely due to coronavirus and over 3,813,048 cases of the lethal infection. The agency revealed that there were 229,700 more deaths between January and November 2020 than in the same period the previous year, an excess mortality rate of more than 13 per cent. The total population of Russia stands at 146.2 million in 2021.

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Similar trends

Affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, London’s population is set to decline for the first time in 30 years, a report by accountancy firm PwC revealed. With residents struggling to survive amid constant economic crisis resulting mass exodus to other locations, the report stated that population of people living in the British capital could fall by more than 300,000 from 9 million in 2020 to 8.7 million in 2021. It would mark the city’s first annual drop in population since 1988. 

Poland is also on a similar trajectory. According to a forecast by the country's Finance Ministry, the country's population is expected to fall to 37.98 million from the present 38.32 million by 2025. The demographic decline will shrink Poland's production-age population (men of 18-64 years of age and women of 18-59) by 0.8 million people by 2025, the ministry said.

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Since its beginning in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, the coronavirus pandemic has killed over two million people across the nations, In addendum, it has infected over 100 million with new mutations still arising. Earlier this month, Germany had confirmed that it had ordered 200,000 doses of the experimental drug that treated former US President of the infection. 

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