Demographics of Russia

has an estimated population of 146.0 million as of 1 January 2025, down from 147.2 million recorded in the 2021 census. It is the most populous country in Europe, and the ninth-most populous country in the world. Russia has a population density of, with its overall life expectancy being 73 years as of 2023. The total fertility rate across Russia was estimated to be 1.41 children born per woman as of 2024, which is in line with the European average but below the replacement rate of 2.1.
By the end of 2024, the natural decline of the Russian population amounted to 596.2 thousand people, according to published data from Rosstat. Compared to the end of 2023, the indicator increased by 20.4%.
From 1992 to 2012, and again since 2016, Russia's death rate has exceeded its birth rate, which has been called a demographic crisis by analysts. In 2009, Russia recorded annual population growth for the first time in fifteen years; during the mid-2010s, Russia had seen increased population growth due to declining death rates, increased birth rates and increased immigration. Between 2020 and 2021, Russia's population had undergone its largest peacetime decline in recorded history, due to excess deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Russia is a multinational state, home to over 193 ethnic groups nationwide. In the 2021 Census, nearly 72% of the population were ethnic Russians and approximately 19% of the population were ethnic minorities such as the Turkic people. According to the United Nations, Russia's immigrant population is the world's third largest, numbering over 11.6 million; most of whom are from other post-Soviet states.

Population

Demographic statistics according to the latest Rosstat vital statistics and the World Population Review in 2019.

One birth every 22 seconds
One death every 13 seconds
Net loss of one person every 30 seconds
Demographic crisis

After having peaked at 148,689,000 in 1991, the population then decreased, falling to 142,737,196 by 2008. Russia has become increasingly reliant on immigration to maintain its population; 2021 had the highest net immigration since 1994, despite which there was a small overall decline from 146.1 million to 145.4 million in 2021, the largest decline in over a decade.
The natural population had declined by 997,000 between October 2020 and September 2021. The natural death rate in January 2020, 2021, and 2022 have each been nearly double the natural birth rate.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the demographic crisis in the country has deepened, as the country has suffered high military fatalities while facing renewed human capital flight and brain drain caused by Western mass-sanctions and boycotts. In 2022, tens of thousands of tech workers left Russia. In 2024, the website of the science journal Science indicated that Russia has seen a multi-year brain drain in the science profession and that salaries are decreasing in the Russian scientific community. Many commentators predict that the situation will be worse than during the 1990s. Although, a large part of the emigrants have returned home to Russia in a continuing process.
In March 2023, The Economist reported that "Over the past three years the country has lost around 2 million more people than it would ordinarily have done, as a result of war , disease and exodus."
The UN is projecting that the decline that started in 2021 will continue, and if current demographic conditions persist, Russia's population will be 120 million in 50 years, a decline of about 17%. In January 2024, the Russian statistics agency Rosstat predicted that Russia's population could drop to 130 million by 2046.

Fertility

Between 1993 and 2008 there was a great decrease in the country's population from 148 to 143 million. There was a huge 50% decrease in the number of births per year from 2.5 million in 1987 to 1.2 million since 1997, but the current 1.42 fertility rate is still higher than that of the 1990s.
At the beginning of 2022, 320,400 babies were born between January and March, 16,600 fewer than January–March 2021. There were nearly twice as many deaths as births. The crude birth rate – 8.9 per 100,000 inhabitants – was the lowest since the year 2000.
Russia has a low fertility rate with 1.42 children per woman in 2022, below 2.1 children per woman, which must be the number reached to maintain its population. As a result of their low fertility for decades, the Russian population is one of the oldest in the world with an average of 40.3 years.

Historical fertility rates

The total fertility rate is the number of children born to each woman. It is based on fairly good data for the entire period. Sources: Our World In Data and Gapminder Foundation.
In many of the years from 1843 to 1917, Russia had the highest total fertility rate in the world. These elevated fertility rates did not lead to population growth due to high mortality rate, the casualties of the Russian Revolution, the two world wars and to a lesser extent the political killings.

Years	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945
	4.60	2.96	1.68	1.72	1.92

Historical crude birth rates

Years	1801–1810	1811–1820	1821–1830	1831–1840	1841–1850	1851–1860
Crude birth rates of Russia	43.7	40.0	42.7	45.6	49.7	52.4

Age structure

Structure of the population

Age group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	66,264,910	76,936,820	143,201,730	100
0–4	4,377,526	4,155,682	8,533,208	5.97
5–9	3,762,806	3,588,032	7,350,838	5.13
10–14	3,396,364	3,231,761	6,628,125	4.63
15–19	3,776,026	3,615,840	7,391,866	5.16
20–24	5,708,187	5,515,543	11,223,730	7.84
25–29	6,262,379	6,179,628	12,442,007	8.69
30–34	5,583,513	5,647,636	11,231,149	7.84
35–39	5,087,565	5,331,818	10,419,383	7.28
40–44	4,589,504	4,861,983	9,451,487	6.60
45–49	4,632,279	5,151,813	9,784,092	6.83
50–54	5,279,364	6,219,077	11,498,441	8.03
55–59	4,480,855	5,817,559	10,298,414	7.19
60–64	3,523,990	5,010,867	8,534,857	5.96
65–69	1,602,839	2,571,671	4,174,510	2.92
70–74	1,989,724	3,975,348	5,965,072	4.17
75–79	1,179,476	2,709,384	3,888,860	2.72
80–84	722 151	2,073,803	2,795,954	1.95
85–89	253 028	1,008,627	1,261,655	0.88
90–94	46 736	219 427	266 163	0.19
95–99	8 634	43 988	52 622	0.04
100+	1 964	7 333	9 297	0.01
Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0–14	11,536,696	10,975,475	22,512,171	15.72
15–64	48,923,662	53,351,764	102,275,426	71.42
65+	5,804,552	12,609,581	18,414,133	12.86

Median age

Life expectancy

'''Infant mortality rate'''

Vital statistics

Before WW2

Notable events in Russian demographics:

Soviet famine of 1930–1933
After WW2