Russians' diminishing life expectancy

“Russian population: The life expectancy for young men is now as low as for men in Haiti—and lower than in Bangladesh. The overall population is tumbling. By the estimates of our data colleagues, the covid-19 pandemic has taken a deadlier toll in Russia than in almost any other country. Add the effects of war—both the tens of thousands of men killed in Ukraine and the hundreds of thousands who have fled into exile—and the population looks terribly skewed. Women now outnumber men in Russia by the millions, for example.”

“For the long-term health of Russia, this matters. Other countries such as Japan have seen a slump in their population size or fertility rates, and managed the decline. But the sudden loss of young people, especially highly educated ones, is acutely painful for economies to deal with. To me, this again highlights how little Vladimir Putin cares for the fate of his own people. Whatever motivates him—some deluded sense of his place in Russian history, perhaps—it is not the well-being of ordinary Russians. I just hope that, one day, Russians will find a way to be rid of him.”

SOURCE Adam Roberts at The Economist <newsletters@e.economist.com>