Population decline; Might not be bad after all!

Although any nation needs a healthy growth of population for the nationalistic point of view, but the declining population in a country such as Russia couldn't be bad after all. I believe the government's role, alcohol/drug abuse (specially among male population), and emigration (due to lack of opportunities, corruption, and political oppression) are some of the contributers to the matter. But I can't imagine that a society would try to increase its population for the sake of nationalistic views, unless the government is behind it with some concrete agenda. I can think of Iran or some Arab countries that increased their birth rate significantly over a specific era, and almost all of them are not happy for what they did. To clarify my view, I must say that in a global view, in this day and age, decreasing one nation's population should not be a big concern even for the society itself. I believe birth and death rates are adjusted with socioeconomic and health status of any nation/society as a whole. I was reading in the Economist a few weeks ago that the west Europe's population (mostly in the Scandinavian countries) has started growing again after a sharp decline over the 1990's and that's all because of a change in ideas and values of families all due to changes in SES factors.

Can't separate role of society and government

The fact that the population is declining in Russia is not as much of an issue as the underlying reasons. I'm personally concerned about the potential "cataclysmic" events in the 90s having such an adverse effect on the Russian population. Russia's focus should not be on whether their population is decreasing or increasing; it should be focusing on decreasing their infant mortality rates, increasing their life expectation rates, and decreasing these so "unnatural" causes that may be a residual effect of the harsh realities that those living in Russia have faced all these years. Perhaps more health education interventions will be needed here to educate people about alcohol abuse and suicides (two large determinants of the "unnatural causes").

The role of society is inherently tied to the government's role, and this fact is hard to separate out. The fact that nearly 80 percent live in low-living conditions (low SES), creates major barriers to good health. At this point, the role of society to look out for one another as a community is essential, but it doesn't seem feasible unless there is a government intervention.

It is evident that more supportive services are necessary for vulnerable populations. More money needs to be streamlined into getting care for mothers (pre- and post-partum) to make sure that they do not die as a result of giving birth. There needs to be a paradigm shift in fixing the economy and bringing political stability to a country desperate for quality health care.

I don't think that population decline, in and of itself is really a problem since the human population is such a burden on the environment and on natural resources. Yet the reasons for population decline in Russia are very problematic. In some ways the trend is similar to that in the EU, Japan, and the US insofar as fertility rates are declining. However, in Russia, the population is not aging, especially not for men. The gap in life expectancies between men and women is very large - typically it's about 5 years or so, but in Russia the difference is 14 years! Obviously, there is something going on in Russian society/culture that is causing such worrisome health trends. And it seems to be affecting men in particular, although certainly the high abortion rate is a cause for concern. I have also read that in Russia, there are growing numbers of cases of drug-resistant TB, especially in jails. This seems to also reflect high levels of crime and drug/alcohol abuse and lack of opportunities.

It isn't mentioned in the article, but I wonder how much of the population decline is due to emigration? I know that many Russians look for work in the EU, but not whether it is on a temporary or permanent basis. It would be hard to stimulate immigration to Russia since it lacks "pull" factors. And before attempting to increase the fertility rate, quality of life and health of the population needs to be improved in Russia.

Even though my grandmother was full Russian I know very little about the culture. I'm looking forward to learning more about Russia tomorrow.

Small changes can make a big difference...

Unfortunately, as the article explains, problems in life expectancy, birth rates, and deaths rates can not be fixed on their own. Even if the problems are societal factors, the government and health professionals need to intervene and help the citizens change their behavior.

Some of the largest causes of death in Russian working age men are alcohol and smoking related deaths, traffic accidents, and violent crimes. These are all societal factors working against life expectancy and overall happiness of Russian men. Maybe health interventions need to be more focused on smoking cesation, drinking in moderation, safer traffic practices, and working with law enforcement to lower violent crimes.

Tatyana Yakovleva, the chairman of the Duma health commission, called for the increase in child-birth allowance. I think that along with this if they increase the amount of child support given for children with divorced parents, some of the pediatric health inequalities can improve.

According to the article, there are an alarmingly high amount of abortions that contribute to the low birth rate. Although it wouldn't help the birth rate there is definitely a need for a health intervention for contraceptives and birth control. Also, if the child-birth allowance was increased like Yakovleva suggested then it might be easier for some of these women to be assured that they will not have to struggle to take care of their children.

There is no easy answer to the problems that Russia is facing. However, making small changes to society and the way they view health can make a big difference.

Can't escape history

I don't know, I feel like the health issues contributing to the reverse population growth trend detailed by the article are issues that are intrinsically tied to the economic and political landscape of the country. In Haiti, for example, it is so hard to reverse rates of violent crimes and decrease social unrest because the country itself was founded on uprisings and revolutions and to this day bears a sort of hostile environment for the people living there. There's only so much that individuals and societies can do without the support of those in power.

Russia is an interesting nation because it has a very turbulent history, and in this case I really feel that the government needs to make a shift towards using politics for public service. As stated in the article, the government needs to improve living standards. Given the instability, there simply is no incentive for people to have lots of children, if at all any. Many people may even be leaving the country, which further contributes to population decline. I am skeptical of the article's comparison of Russia's demographic trends being similar to those of the European Union and Japan, because those are completely different scenarios. As industrialized nations move on and upward, people are more likely to focus on individual development and postpone having a family whereas the situation in Russia is that there is great insecurity.

We learned in another class that having 2 children in the United States was the consumption approximate to having 20 children in Africa. Population growth is not necessarily a good thing. Russia should look to tackle their prevailing health issues not because they need a population big enough to "maintain their territory," but because their health outcomes are simply below standard. When they can resolve these fundamental, underlying issues, then they can start to tackle how to get more live births per year.