Number of Scientific Researchers in Russia in Decline Since 1991 On Course to Fall Further, Moscow State University Scholars Say

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Feb. 9 – Since the moment of the disintegration of the USSR, two scholars at Moscow State University say, “the number of people professionally involved in scientific research and development in Russia have continuously declined,” raising questions about the prospects for such research in the future.
    The two scholars are Ye.V. Karavayeva and V.V. Malandin. Their article, “Problems of Cadres Supply for Scientific and Technological Development of Russia Affecting New strategy for the Development of Education until 2040” (in Russian in Vyshyeye Obrazovaniye v Rossii, 34:1 (2025) is available at vovr.elpub.ru/jour/article/view/5317/2416.
    It is discussed in detail in today’s issue of Nakanune by Yevgeny Chernyshov who now teachers at the University of Bochum in Germany (nakanune.ru/articles/123131/). Among the most important data points he presents are the following:
•    While the number of Russian researchers has been constantly falling, the corresponding figures for other major countries have been in every case constantly rising.
•    Between 2015 and 2023, the number of candidates of science involved in research and development fell from 83,000 to 70,000 and the number of doctors of science from 4400 to 1200, 17 percent and roughly four times respectively.
•    Young scientists overwhelmingly have a negative impact about their future in Russian institutions. Not surprisingly the average age of researchers in Russia is 46, “five years more than the age of those involved in the economy,” and a quarter of the Russian researchers are over 60.”
•    Between 2000 and 2023, the number of scientific research centers in Russia fell from 2686 to 1517, while the number of higher educational institutions involved in such research increased but typically by overburdened teaching faculty.
•    Ever fewer young graduates are going into scientific and development research.
•    “Almost 50 percent” of government-funded positions in this sector are in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
•    Moscow is increasing financing of science in 2025 but then plans to keep funding unchanged for the years after that.