Only by Maintaining Schools in Rural Areas Can Russia Hope to Avoid Depopulation of Much of the Country, Shelishch Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 14 – The Russian government’s Spatial Development Strategy, adopted in 2024 and running through 2030, hopes to reverse the trend toward the concentration of population in a few large cities and the depopulation of much of the rest of the country by promoting the equalization of the standard of living between urban and rural places.

            That is a worthy goal, Pyotr Shelishch of the Consumers’ Union of Russia; but such equalization is almost certainly unattainable and if that is the only tactic employed, the current concentration of population in big cities and the depopulation of the rest will continue (mk.ru/social/2026/06/14/obezlyuzhivanie-rossii-kak-dobitsya-bolee-ravnomernogo-rasseleniya-naseleniya-na-territorii-svoey-strany.html).

            Shelishch, who worked in the Central Statistical Administration at the end of Soviet times, argues that it is time to focus more narrowly on what can be done – specifically the maintenance of schools in rural settlements – because that at least promises to slow if not reverse the depopulation of rural Russia.

            His research at that time showed that “small villages could—and often did—manage without a shop, pharmacy, medical post, or bus service, but not without a school.” When schools closed, people left so that their children could get an education. That is something Moscow has real power over deciding but now it is closing these schools.

            At least for the time being, Shelishch suggests, the Russian government should focus on keeping schools in smaller settlements open. If Moscow does that, then the depopulation now affecting an increasing portion of the Russian Federation will slow and possibly even be reversed.

            And that in turn is now a question of national security, he continues. As Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said earlier this year, “The depopulation of territories is a strategic threat to us; we cannot allow it … We need to strive for a more even distribution of the population so that people do not crowd into apartments in a few major cities far from their home regions” (expert.ru/news/v-sovfede-nazvali-obezlyuzhivanie-territoriy-strategicheskoy-ugrozoy-dlya-rossii).

            Commenting on her words, Shelishch says the fewer population centers there are, the easier it will be for Russia’s enemies to attack either with nuclear weapons or drones. Moreover, if there are no Russian settlements where there are natural resources, those who come to work them may create exclaves threatening the territorial integrity of the country.