Russia's natural population decrease down 17.4% in 2023 - Rosstat

MOSCOW. Feb 16 (Interfax) - Natural population decrease in Russia slowed by 17.4% in 2023 compared with 2022, to 495,200 from 599,600, the State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said.

The number of births fell 3.2% to 1,264,900 from 1,306,200 and the number of deaths 7.6% to 1,760,200 from 1,905,800.

Natural population decrease in 2022 was down 42.5% in comparison with 2021, to 599,600 from 1,042,700.

Rosstat has said that according to a preliminary estimate, Russia's population excluding new territories had fallen to 146.204 million by the beginning of 2024, from 146.447 million at the start of 2023.