MOSCOW, May 15 (RIA Novosti) - Tackling...
President Vladimir Putin called the decline in Russia"s population - which he said was falling by 700,000 people a year - the country"s biggest problem in his May 10 state of the nation.
And Dmitry Medvedev picked up the critical theme in a television interview.
"[The demographic crisis] is obviously a very serious domestic problem as an absolute decline in the Russian population is happening," he said.
The United Nations has warned that Russia"s population - which stood at roughly 145 million in a 2002 census - could fall by as much as a third by 2050. Putin set out in his speech increased child benefits as one way to ameliorate the situation, which is also affected by unhealthy lifestyles and poor living conditions.
Medvedev said the problem could be solved in three ways: to cut the death rate from unnatural causes, to conduct a clear and effective migration policy and to encourage people to have more children.