Russia’s Birth Rate at Its Lowest in 200 Years

Russia has been trying hard to boost its birth rate. The government promotes “traditional values,” discourages abortion, and encourages families to have more children.

But none of it seems to be working. Fewer and fewer babies are being born. And the numbers keep dropping, according to Digi24.

In the first two months of 2025, Russia recorded 195,400 births. That’s about 3% less than the same period in 2024. February was even worse.

Only 90,500 babies were born. That’s a drop of 7.6% compared to last year.

Some regions were hit harder than others. Arkhangelsk saw an 18.7% drop in births.

In Karelia, the number fell by 19.4%. Oryol dropped 18.6%, Kostroma 21.6%, and Smolensk 26.6%.

Demographer Alexei Raksha says this may be the lowest birth count Russia has seen since the early 1800s.

He estimates that around 95,000 to 96,000 babies were born in March. That would bring the first quarter total to just under 295,000.

Official numbers for March haven’t been released yet.

Deaths have also fallen slightly. In January and February, there were 331,100 deaths, down 5.2% from the previous year.

But that isn’t enough to balance out the drop in births. Russia lost nearly 119,000 people in population during those two months alone.

Nationally, deaths now outnumber births by 1.6 to 1. In some areas, it’s even worse.

In places like Kaluga and Ivanovo, twice as many people died as were born. In Vladimir and Belgorod, three times as many.

In 2024, Russia had just 1.22 million births. That’s the lowest since 1999. Compared to 2014, the birth rate has dropped by a third.

Over the past eight years, the population has naturally declined by more than 3 million.

The trend isn’t likely to reverse soon. Official forecasts say the birth rate will keep falling.

It could hit 1.14 million by 2027. Even if it slowly recovers later, by 2045 it may still be 25% below pre-2014 levels.

Russia’s population could drop to 130 million by 2046. That’s the same size it was back in 1897.