Russia’s declining population is a function of both a high death rate and the low birth rate. Deaths are due to alcoholism, early heart disease, and accidents. The average male life span is only 59. They also have one of the highest suicide ratesof the world, and six times as many males killing themselves than females. Depression rates are high in Russia - 23% of males and 44% of females - and 60% feel that their income and material circumstance as “bad” or “very bad.”
Depressed women (and depressed women often have depressed sex drives) with depressed and chronically alcoholic spouses (and chronically alcoholic males are often impotent) who all feel pretty hopeless about how their futures are shaping up. Not a surprise that there aint that much breeding going on or that women are not too excited about having lots of kids. And yeah, they are indeed also choosing to not have many kids - most want small families, use birth control, and have no qualms about having an abortion if they get pregnant anyway.
Mind you this says little about the issue of regional overpopulation elsewhere in the world but we have other threads for that subject.
china is not underpopulated. population is concentrated in the eastern third of the country because the western two thirds is largely inhospital.
not sure how much population siberia could support? china would be happy to take it over.
i’ve alwaays thought japan grossly miscalculated after taking manchuria and rhen going for china and se asia. instead could have carved out siberia? manchuria, mongolia? korea? taiwan and had a sustainable empire
It’s my understanding that Russia has had a very high abortion rate for many years. I’ve read (in a book about Russia) that during the Soviet years Russians were highly suspicious of the Pill (which was hard to get anyway) and that doctors encouraged women not to use it, claiming that it was unnatural, would make you crazy, etc. Abortions were actually considered more ‘natural’ and better for your health–and they were routinely used as birth control. Doctors liked this because they could charge extra for such luxuries as anaesthetic.
Anyway, given the history, it’s not at all surprising that Russia has quite a high abortion rate, even if it wasn’t in a tragic death spiral anyway.
If China has lots of extra men, and Russia has extra women because of Russian mens’ terrible health and longevity, should the two populations get together?
Apparently the only reason depopulation in Russia is an issue is because it would affect Russia as a country? It sounds like it is not currently a place anyone wants to live, much less try to raise any children so why should anyone be encouraging them to do so? Doesn’t it make more sense for them to try to get the country back on it’s feet first?
How about we encourage both of them to work it out peacefully. If either invades, lots of nukes will be used on the troops, if not the cities. Millions will die. Now I know that doesn’t bother the George Bush School of Strategic Thought, but the worldwide fallout will also kill millions.
My understanding was that Siberia was steadily filling with Chinese nationals. I’m not saying its by stealth or government policy, but more of a natural migration northward. No cite sorry - vaguely recall reading it somewhere, and would welcome clarification or repudiation.
Ethnic Russians are a vanishing breed and it appears do not really want to live in Russia’s Far East. The ethnic Chinese population in Russia’s Far East is growing fast, has strong ties back home, is a tight community, and as much as their labor may be needed is not being welcomed as members of Russian society - they are “others”. Russian nationalism has often had a strong ethnic component to it. Ethnic Chinese in Russia are unlikely to develop a strong Russian national identity any time soon. China needs the natural resources that are contained in the Russian Far East and likely will for many years and Russia’s economy right now is based on very little but the exploitation of natural resources. The EU hopes to eventually be less dependent on Russia for natural gas and we are already getting a taste of what Russia’s economy will be dealing with in a possible future world with less demand for its resources.
An invasion by China seems less likely than eventual moves for “autonomy” if not outright independence from Russia with perhaps some covert support from China. How that plays out I would not hazard a guess.
I would - the Russians would fight it tooth and nail, up to and including the use of nuclear weapons. You have no idea how deep the Russian fear of foreign invasion goes.
I dunno, once the WW2 generation and their children die off, and given a few generations of disaffected and cynical replacements… Russia as we know it could slip away and few would care. I figure breakaway efforts like Chechnya will only increase, and the brutality of Russia’s responses will only demonstrate their desperation.
Alsace-Lorraine is that little region in France that borders Germany and was part of Germany from Franco-Prussian War in 1871 until the end of World War I. Germany has a much larger population than France.