Nearly a Third of All Russians Now Over the Age of 55, the Highest Share Ever

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Nov. 28 – According to the Russian labor ministry, 30 percent of Russians are now over 55, the highest share in the history of the country and one that means that the demographic “burden” pensioners place on those of working age is increasing as well, with there now being 471 pensioners to every 1,000 workers, a figure up from 413 only eight years ago.
    This aging of the Russian population, however, is the product less of improved healthcare and living conditions for the older cohorts than of the decline in the number of births (moscowtimes.ru/2024/11/27/dolya-rossiyan-starshe-55-let-dostigla-maksimuma-vsovremennoi-istorii-rossii-a148825 and moscowtimes.ru/2024/11/28/vrossii-predlozhili-schitat-molodezhyu-lyudei-do60-let-a149006).
    In response to these new figures, Veronika Skvortsova, head of the Federal Medical-Biological Agency, has proposed changing the Russian law which currently defines young people as those under 35 to one that suggests Russians are young until 60, far older than the WHO says (ria.ru/20241128/molodost-1986224254.html).
    That may make for good propaganda, but it will do little to address the very real problems of an aging Russian population.