Russia's Population Problem

Russia's population is in freefall. From low birth rates to war-driven losses, explore the deepening demographic crisis and its global implications in this in-depth analysis. Watch now!
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[@Satire-Gaming]

it is almost like people do not want the burden of children when they live in a shit country with shit laws, shit government and no hope for a better future.

[@Thatguy-cb4qs]

It’s not only Russians. They are bad but yeah, I have 2 kids, we’d go for 3 but everything is too expensive.

[@RobotWithHumanHair.]

Then why is the entire west seeing population decline? Why do third world shit holes have such high population growth? It’s not the simple.

[@unyieldingsarcasm2505]

@@Thatguy-cb4qs its almost like the entire west stopped trying to better life for its middle class and instead shifted to pure profit squeezing

[@jacob4920]

@@Thatguy-cb4qs According to all the various population studies, 2 is all you need. You've done your part. Having more is a burden you should be WILLING to take on, not forced to.

[@Deadassbruhfrfr]

Well, it happens in more educated societies where people realize how short life is. And that not everyone wants to spend the money and time raising a child. It's selfish yes, but that's how I see it.

[@elinat2414]

I migrated from Russia to Australia as a child. It has been, by far, the best thing that has ever happened to me and probably WILL ever happen to me.

[@lunacytty]

wanna hear some funny thing? tons of Aussies are migrating to Russia, there are lot of channels in ytube about their life experience in Russia, but I have 1 question wtf.

[@jurateb.9794]

Tons of australians migrating to Russia? You are delusional.

[@vffncl0]

@@lunacytty Russia really is great fun as a foreigner when you have earnings from your own country -- as long as you don't get in any legal trouble. I doubt these Aussies who are in love with Russia are living like the average citizens there.

[@EvilMAiq]

Imagine a land so terrible that you prefer fire tornadoes and drop bears.

[@Hathur]

@@lunacytty I cannot find a single news reference to this "phenomenon" anywhere. I'm calling this BS. Australians have among the highest standards of living in the developed world, there is no scenario where any meaningful number of Aussies leave their native country for Russia where the standard of living is dozens of times BELOW Australia's.

[@theemissary1313]

When a drink is not considered an alcoholic drink if below 10% content, you're gonna have a high attrition rate.

[@TexasNationalist1836]

Based Russian alcohol laws

[@chloeleo]

Not like their commanders would abide by that anyways lol they’ll drink and they’ll drink whatever they want

[@nastybandit322]

That's just boys being boys

[@lephtovermeet]

Have you been drinking? No no no no - I only had like 7 IPAs.

[@TexasNationalist1836]

@ IPAs are only 5% lol that’s like drinking the piss water light beers

[@TonyStark-uu9us]

Putin was bitching about this back in 2004. Interesting 'solution' he picked for it

[@leopard_52]

Yeah, I'm completely and totally shocked that no one wants to live in Russia or raise a kid there.

[@CelesteO-h6w]

He probably thought it would be a quick +44 mil

[@christopherh2570]

Well people say the same thing about Europe and the US. Your argument doesn't make any sense

[@moritamikamikara3879]

He's a damn fool

[@leopard_52]

​​@@christopherh2570 The US and Western Europe are un-comparably better than Russia. Don't even pretend like Russia is a good place to live for anyone except putin and his sycophants. Despite having population problems like Russia they aren't even in the same league when it comes to severity.

[@rcchin7897]

The West : Kids are expensive. Russia : Life is cheap.

[@dansmith1661]

Crimea river.

[@_kreetch9231]

@@dansmith1661you, my friend, have won the internet for today!

[@adamb503]

​​@@dansmith1661A river of blood...They didnt name him Vlad for no reason.

[@DG-ew9wb]

On the contrary, life is very expensive, but death is cheap, and in some places, you can get it for free.

[@leeroyjenkins0]

Life is cheap, but toilet paper is expensive (1989)

[@djsonicc]

Putin: You, build new tanks! You, make more shells! And you, make more Russians!

[@weik-2936]

"You give money so we can eat?" Putin: "no"

[@RC_ALB]

Is this an Oversimplified reference?

[@jontaedouglas7244]

Well… when a mommy Russian likes a daddy Russian …

[@KlausKokholmPetersen]

Who would want to bring a child into the world in Russia?

[@sumwun9908]

@@KlausKokholmPetersenwhy wouldn’t people want to start a family in the most prosperous country in the world since they don’t have to resort to eating hamsters like us 😂

[@vic5015]

My brother has a nunber of Russisn friends. I asked him once what they thought of Putin and the war. As he pointed out, the fact that none of them seem particularly eager to return to Russia and fight for the Motherland is probably all the answer you need.

[@richardthomas5362]

Russia had a lot of people leave at the beginning of the war. Ukraine had a number of people leave at the beginning of the war. When Israel's war with Hamas started Israel had to charter flights from some countries because many of their young people came back to fight.

[@dimmacommunication]

Wars are fought by a certain kind of people's decisions... why do I need to die for a POS that has no right to send me to war ?

[@tessmaru7285]

A lot of Russians living abroad actually support putin! As an anti-putin Russian, I have to admit that he has a lot of support from people. Of course, there’s 24/7 propaganda and repressions.

[@richardthomas5362]

@@tessmaru7285 If they support Putin then why don't they go home to fight?

[@dharmdevil]

a "lot" is an exageration in the context of the total population of Russia. While some left, there are significantly more who were eager to join, hence why Russian army ballooned without a general mobilization.

[@BushNinja_za]

To be fair to Russia, countries all over the world are going through a massive fertility crisis...though the solution to this probs doesn't involve invading neighbouring countries

[@Connor37911]

True, but Russia’s crisis is arguably the worst in the world, as countries like Japan have put huge government and societal resources into preparing for an aging population. And China may have a steeper population drop, but it’s still a very populous country, unlike Russia, which now has a smaller population than Nigeria. And Russia is only continuing its population decline, while much of its stability dependent on maintaining its pension system.

[@Lorethe2nd]

Yeah, but most Western countries can expand immigration, while no one wants to go to Russia.

[@niXity9000]

Yep, the birth rate by itself would not be very different from other countries - but when you add high death and emigration rates, problems start to be compounded.

[@jeromeisaacs4428]

Drinking all that Vodka doesnt help

[@vadim6385]

Russia is going through fertility crisis since pretty much 1914 (and that includes Belarus and Ukraine).

[@reaperz5677]

Who knew that living in a dying petrol-state during an active war would make you want to have less children. Complete shocker. Edit: To the people below: No, being a petrol-state isn't a compliment. Google "Dutch disease" or just look at the result of Venezuela. No, people aren't not having kids because of "bad culture" or because they're "lazy". They quite simply cannot afford them, like they TELL YOU THEY CAN'T. Most people, when asked, want 2 or 3 kids. When asked why they can't have that many, most say because of the economy of financial issues. "Pull yourself up the bootstraps and just live cheaper!" doesn't work when people can't afford houses or don't have a stable income. If you ask people why they can't have kids, and then just conclude "NO YOU'RE JUST LYING" to whatever they answer, then you're part of the problem. No, I never said that "Only Russia has this problem". You made that statement up in your head, and saying "other countries have these issues too, you know" like some kind of sly counter-argument doesn't make you look any smarter. You're arguing with yourself, about a difference of opinion that... you just made up in your head.

[@utvara1]

Who knew that decrepid, woke, poor and pathetic western countries ALL TO ONE have declining birth rates. Who knew English, French and Germans are basically a minority in newborns in their own countries. Who knew how PA THE TIC the westoids are with their cope.

[@MK_ULTRA420]

Also living under a mafia state that makes the US government look like Star Trek's Federation.

[@Aendavenau]

Now they had kids until the fall of the Sovietunion.... so the decline started before the invasion of Ukraine.

[@i_like_beer-o2f]

And what's your explanation for literally every other developed country also having a low birthrate?

[@FromTheWombTotheGrave]

They why is Africa booming in population

[@gssthh]

It's not hard to see why most countries have the same problem. Too many at the top are forcing wages to stifle so they can make higher profits that aren't reflective of higher gross income. That forcing families to make more concessions. The obvious is another mouth to feed. Only 35 years ago, one working parent could have 4+ children, take them on holidays, and afford a mortgage. For most youngsters these fay's, it takes 2 working parents to achieve half of that.

[@morstyrannis1951]

That’s what’s so laughable about the deluded MAGA crowd. The USA was arguably at its peak in the late 1950s. But Trump’s plutocrats have zero intention to resurrect the government policies of that time. Look at the tax rates the wealthiest people in society used to pay. Greedy plutocrats and governments serving them are the simple reason for the decline of the middle and lower classes in western societies.

[@geordiejones5618]

Yep I'm a single dad and the only reason I would have another child is if I can afford to have like 3. Otherwise I'd rather do right by my small circle than risk stretching myself thin if things got much worse.

[@michaelwoods8654]

No it doesn't

[@gssthh]

@@michaelwoods8654 yes it does

[@yt.damian]

There is truth to this statement but it is also so much more complex. If you already had your home (bought before the 90s) and your children, then this was probably correct. Otherwise you are going to have to go back further, back to a time when your home was about 60% of its current size and you only had one car and didnt have many of the other wonderful electronics that fill our homes these days.

[@do3807]

Coworker here is Russian, mid 20s, accounts are frozen so he's living on the fly. Does NOT seem eager to go home

[@runechuckie]

mhmm even though they have their equivalents of media/tech/banks now...they still have lost access to MASSIVE amounts of stuff that the rest of the world utilizes on a daily basis. Nevermind I'm not sure I'd want to live somewhere where I could become conscripted outside the normal age of conscription, Ukraine or Russia.

[@NikitaKyndt]

Russia is finding out what putting women as second rate citizen gives you. So does Japan and South Korea.

[@zenmasta4188]

your comment does not make sense. back in the day they also were second rate but birth rate was way better. its because men forced them to have kids a lot of kids. and for some reason we can't do that anymore.

[@randomkommentelo9015]

Ironically, the countries with the highest child/women are the worst for women to actually live in.

[@TomoreniusTom]

a better way to phrase it is "Putting educated Women as second rate citizen" beacuse for the longest Time Women were treated as 2nd class citizens

[@zenmasta4188]

@TomoreniusTom as they should.

[@logenninefingers7794]

russian women are priveleged to have multiply men so they produce more childs

[@BLACKAAROW]

Even If Putin conquered Ukraine and absorbed its population, it’s only kicking the can down the road for a few decades. Ukraine it self has a low birth rate as well

[@bloodlustshiva1]

Like western countries, they can maintain or even improve birth rates by making immigration more appealing for outsiders. Unlike Russia, who's rapidly burning those bridges. Expect it and China to become larger versions of North Korea at this rate.

[@wamnicho]

@@bloodlustshiva1 where will the immigrants come from and what about the natives that don’t want immigrants. It’s the number one reason why people like trump are getting elected

[@bloodlustshiva1]

@@wamnicho Trump will only be a problem for four more years, hopefully less. The people complaining about immigrants will change their tune once they actually have to pay high wages for tedious jobs like lawn care, or god forbid, do it their self.

[@RC_ALB]

​@@bloodlustshiva1Those bridges were in flames even before the war. I am from a coutry where emigration is commonplace, and to this day I swear I have never heard of anyone having emigrated or showing desire to emigrate to Russia. Now with the war, they have kissed that option goodbye for at least the entire 21st century

[@RC_ALB]

​@@wamnichoUSA doesn't need that many immigrants. And they have really good incentives for valuable immigrants and filters for their immigrants. They have the luxury to hold back on immigrants

[@ZCid47]

Another aspect that people ignore is how miserable is for russian womans is to be in relationship. Russia has practically decriminalized abuse against womans, if a woman surfers from abuse in a relationship she needs to practically been stab in front of withness in order to press charges against her partner, if not the police is not going to do anything until the conclusion of any abusive relationship when is to late. In a society where drunkenness is part of the culture and inaction from the government to help, the idea that one would have a children in a potentially dangerous situation is just ridiculous for many women's

[@jurateb.9794]

In Russia women have to work full time and do most if the cooking, cleaning, child rearing etc. The divorce rates are around 60% and most russian men are not good fathers i.e. many of them forget about their children after divorce.

[@SlateBlueC4t]

Yeah, that's a huge point

[@teoleno4019]

Being a woman in Russia and having kids is the easiest way to ruin your life forever.

[@zenmasta4188]

@@jurateb.9794 why can't men just force them again like in the old days? why can't we just do it? what holds trump back by just saying "ok women you don't want kids. men are allowed to force you. how about that." why is it so important that women get education? they can just start making kids at 16 years like in the old days to increase birth rates.

[@mattropolis99]

can confirm. when I was in Russia 10 years ago, women threw themselves at us as Western men. It was mostly to just get out and have a husband that wasn’t a drunk.

[@JohnDrummondPhoto]

Seven abortions PER WOMAN!!?? Holy sh*t!

[@soulfulnick]

Because it’s not true

[@davidharris5833]

That was wild

[@Slay1337pl]

Isn't that what the 'progressives' want?

[@AlienBigMac]

​@soulfulnick Depends if they consider PLAN B as an abortion, it'd be weird, but that would be my guess.

[@ElderNewt]

They love to copy Amercians

[@Kaltagstar96]

On the brain drain point, imagine how bad things have to be in Russia to look over to China and go "Yeah, I'll take my chances in Beijing" Also, Putin "couldn't seize a Chicken Kiev, let alone the real thing" is a brilliant insult.

[@pads-zr9ln]

Id take being over Europe, less diversity

[@wolfrickthedesigner4748]

😂😂

[@JJJJ-jw8hc]

Won't comment on the political environments but I do agree with you just jobs-wise, I heard many young Chinese cannot even find jobs in China, much less Russian immigrants

[@u2beuser714]

Is china supposed to be a low bar? i dont get your comment

[@andrewcheng1998]

⁠@@JJJJ-jw8hcThings in China were better a few years ago. Growth was there and government officials was busy fighting each other. Then Xi came to office.

[@RenegadeElite101]

Highest interest rates in the developed world, some of the highest inflation of the developed world , a rich Soviet stockpile of tanks and assorted weaponry gone , and a demographic population nearing irreversible crisis. Nobody can say Russia won this war, even if Ukraine submits in totality tomorrow, history will come to know this at best as a draw for the long term effects this will have on Russia.

[@utvara1]

Yankee, you are the first pathetic stock that got a FULL REPLACEMENT since Roman Latins got replaced in Rome by the incoming hordes of slaves. It is gonna be Brazilification all the way down. Enjoy your millions of LEGAL immigrants that musk and drump bring you.

[@calebbean1384]

The term Phyrric Victory comes to mind

[@Geoduck.]

No disrespect but ruSSia is not a developed world country.

[@BlackDiamondYoutub]

Your mistake is saying 'the developed world'. Russia is not a developed country. It's a third world country with a couple decent cities and a large military. Russians do not have quality of life at the standards of the developed world.

[@WastelandSoldier0885]

Yep

[@schemage2210]

I find it ironic that a guy that is so concerned about Russian population is also so eager to threaten nuclear war. One of those is, lets say, counter-productive to the other!!!

[@greatunborn]

AND is eager to use its remaining young men as cannon fodder in a stupid war.

[@dansmith1661]

The US would have started the nukes.

[@williammontroy9024]

@@dansmith1661very insightful..

[@mattropolis99]

Putin is also running an attrition war - also the worst policy if trying to protect your population shrinking

[@bingobongo9521]

Like in any dictatorship, those in power only care about what serves them now, not about the wellbeing of their country and population in the future.

[@qualicumwilson5168]

Since Putin is very much concerned about the population and has continuously increased the wages for working people, does that mean he is not a dictator, under your thinking and definitions? I do not believe so but I am tired of people defining something and the sayin the exact opposite. "Ice heats concept"

[@sifergy8412]

@@qualicumwilson5168increasing their income ie wages by having to pay them more to go to war and be killed in the 100 of thousands to millions is not a sign he cares! And yes he is destroying the future of the Russian people if you look at the probable outcomes from this genocidal war, you need to take charge of your country before he completely deystroys your future (unless that’s already happened) either way it would be a good thing for you as a nation to start viewing human lives with some sort of value

[@lenOwOo]

The democractic nation seems doing the same too. . Though not as brazen

[@lorenfranz3173]

I saw a video that said that because close to 30 million people in the Soviet Union died during WWII, between 1941 and 1945, that means that after close to four generations later, those 30 million lost souls were unable to bring into the world at least 120 to 160 million descendants. For comparison, the US lost roughly 400,000 active servicemen killed in the same war, and if each of those men didn't die and had at least three children of their own, that's an additional 1.2 million in the first generation after WWII, and if those children had three of their own children, that means that close to four or five million Americans aren't alive today as a consequence of WWII.

[@JABN97]

Of course, there remains 1 question: in the USSR, many civilians died and women were part of the military. In the US, it was primarily military causalities and almost all of those were male. If those American man had lived, would they have married a woman that in our lifetime remained unmarried? Or did these women in our timeline marry & have kids with another men (like say a younger men or older widower)? Or did these women not exist, because on average slightly more kids are male instead of female? For those Sovjet deaths: talking very ‘coldly’ here: after their death there were more resources like land and jobs available for the survivors. If all of them had lived, would the our-timeline survivors still have had the same number of kids in the alternative scenario as they did in ours? But then again, war destroys resources like nothing else. So maybe even with more people, the resource / couple ratio in the alternative scenario may have been higher then it was in the real world. Lastly: these calculations often assume that all survivors find a heterosexual partner, want to have kids, and successfully have kids. They often don’t take into account that roughly 10% of the population is not heterosexual, doesn’t find a partner, doesn’t want or can’t afford kids, have fertility problems or die early from other causes like accidents/sickness. Nor do they take into account that sometimes, couples who lost children in wartime will have more children to ‘compensate’ for various reasons. Children they would not have conceived without the deaths during wartime.

[@theskv21]

That’s crazy. Russia would’ve been the fourth most populous nation today ahead of Pakistan and Indonesia but behind China India and the United States.

[@lorenfranz3173]

Let's keep in mind that nobody knows for sure how many Soviets, whether civilians or soldiers, died during WWII; we have only rough estimates, and even today, the Kremlin isn't exactly opening the doors to its archives for just anyone. The number of people who died 80 years ago isn't the sole reason for Russia's declining population; economics, lack of immigration into Russia, while more Russians are leaving their home country to escape Putin's tyranny and the War in Ukraine, and the fact that Russia, despite its massive size, doesn't have the necessary infrastructure to transport goods and people more efficiently than it is capable now.

[@RisEOfPhOeniX182]

Stalin didn’t help to avert the decline

[@dingus6317]

Look up how many die to abortion in the west and extrapolate those numbers

[@tfabacher]

Thanks!

[@drgat6953]

While Russia is going through a demographic collapse this isn't what will cause a Russian economic collapse. Most of Russia's GDP is based on mineral extraction (Oil, gas, metals, etc). You don't need tens of millions of people to do this. Even where you are missing workers the Gulf Nations found out you can easily get expats who won't put down roots for the right price. What is going to really hurt Russia is the massive levels of corruption which will result in large portions of their Soviet era infrastructure and industry rust and fade away.

[@Emmuzka]

Yes, the corruption at every level keeps most of the population from benefitting from the natural resources and generating new prospering industries, their knowhow and resources rusting away. Most of the population will suffer from worsening education and health care, uncertain retirement and other benefits, inflation destroying regular people's meager funds, war and propaganda creating uncertainity and alcoholism destroying lives. On the other hand, most of Russians are still very patriotic, they have a cultural history of suffering and most think that a strong leader and meager times is always better than a chaos.

[@jameslawrence3666]

Actually one huge problem is that Russia don't have the engineers and skilled technicians to build or maintain the oil and gas infrastructure.... those left are all retiring

[@gordontaylor2815]

Economic collapse will also lead to the political collapse of the Russian Federation - eventually the "autonomous regions" (especially in resource rich regions of Siberia) will decide they have a better chance of a prosperous future as independent states instead of staying part of Russia. (Foreign investors waving large amounts of money around will be catalytic in that regard.) And once one region declares independence, ALL of them will do so because anything Russia tries at that point will only make things worse. It'll be a cascading failure the same way the Soviet Union fell apart in the late 80s, and remember a long-term quagmire of a war (Afghanistan) triggered that too.

[@Terminalsanity]

@@gordontaylor2815 Oh yeah I bet outer Manchuria will break away and/or be annexed by China inside of 20 years.

[@tech477]

I hope a video about stagflation and war economics is coming next.

[@gordontaylor2815]

Anyone notice yet that Simon's alliteration game is on point multiple times in the video?

[@jamesjross]

Today's warfronts was brought to you by the letter P

[@mho...]

....allegendly

[@bioLarzen]

"Author: Oliver Carpenter" ;)

[@ziziroberts8041]

Unusually high level of existential fear, greed, violence, endless war and suffering, climate crisis denial, poverty, famine, ignorance. Why have children?

[@morstyrannis1951]

Because the Tsar orders it! The Tsar loves the peasants and vatniks. The only problem is the corruption the Tsar doesn’t know about. If only the Tsar knew he would rescue them. This is the nonsense ruSSian society has told itself for centuries.

[@Germain-ys8zz]

Because those all are complete bull? There has never been a better time in all of human history to have children

[@mercenarygundam1487]

And people virgin shame virgins. Look who's laughing now.

[@lattehour]

you need to have children because they can be sent to war INSTEAD OF YOU 😁

[@hkonhelgesen]

Exactly. The russian don't. Of course.

[@damienrodriguez94]

Did anyone not catch his amazing alliteration? "Prevents prospective pregnant people from planning potential parenthood ". 3:55

[@ClayGreen]

#kingwhistlerwhistling! I wonder if Putin is watching?

[@WastelandSoldier0885]

Pregnant people lol.

[@CelesteO-h6w]

Reads with Rachel would flip out! 😂

[@richardthomas5362]

@@WastelandSoldier0885 I guess we can figure out why the birth rate is low in the west. Dudes can't get pregnant no matter how much you try. LOL!

[@matthijs3134]

@@WastelandSoldier0885I thought I was the only one that heard that 😂 bit of wokeism mixed in for good measure 💀

[@Malis__]

Birth rate is low in all developed countrys, South Korea is down to 0.8

[@jacobschindler2513]

Uhh .72 actually and expected to continue dropping

[@matthewcombs5387]

Poor South Korea. Reunification could solve both the North and Souths issues. All they gotta do is get rid of Kim

[@AT-AT26]

@@jacobschindler2513 Yep, .72 in 2023 and now it's expected to be .68 this year. next year it will probably fall even more as their population gets older (since old people don't tend to start families)

[@utvara1]

Around 0.68 in 2024, likely 0.63 in 2025, 0.59 in 2026, 0.55 in 2027, 0.52 in 2028, 0.5 on 2029 and 0.49 on 2030.

[@hkonhelgesen]

Birth rates are even lower in non-developed countrys. Like Russia.

[@blazed420rcd]

Seeing Steven Seagal dance made this video, how far he has fallen from his prime days of making action videos

[@lordmontymord8701]

Well "prime days" is of course relative. The man had limited success in Hollywood and then went fast into the Direct-to-DVD/Streaming-trash bin. Making so many movies where he wanted to look like he's still in his prime turned him already into a joke. Being Putin's fat lapdog is really just consequential, if you think about it. He's getting the attention as the "great man" he thinks he is from Putin and Lukashenko.

[@MK_ULTRA420]

His only prime days come from Amazon.

[@EarlHare]

what prime? His movies sucked even then.

[@BAM5636]

Yeah his movies were always terrible.

[@WaltzingUndead]

Search up his guitar solo if you want a chuckle.

[@Lorethe2nd]

To all the Russian bots saying that European and other countries are having this problem: Yes, they are, but far less so than Russia. Most developed nations see this population decline as an issue and developed programs, legislation, and incentives to have children. Russia’s response to their horrible population crisis, was to have a war with it’s neighbor and steal thousands of Ukrainian children (war crime) while costing millions of their best and brightest who left the country, and the hundreds of thousands who have died fighting. Russia has set itself on a course for ruin, and can’t even be called a superpower anymore.

[@therosijedha]

it lost superpower status when the soviet union collapsed

[@k-tech2937]

the key is population density. In germany we now have 84+ mils of people and this is just too many people for our infrastructure, we would benefit greatly from having 10% or so less people. In a huge country like russia however it is bad, because at some point there are not going to be enough people to upkeep the country anymore and vast part of it will be just wilderness.

[@sevin10a]

Always look to you as a reliable source of news and a way to keep me updated about our greater world. I know there's not much I can do, but remaining aware and at least vaguely educated feels important in this day and age. Congrats on a million subs!

[@krisshnapeswanipeswani3190]

All hail fact boi

[@michaelwoods8654]

He's a propogandist

[@krisshnapeswanipeswani3190]

@michaelwoods8654 nope. He is a arbiter of facts. It's just that facts defeat you

[@Bertinator-nm9ld]

​@@michaelwoods8654How so? It's fine to make that accusation, but it needs supporting data. Otherwise I can just counter you by claiming that you're a propagandist!

[@hailexiao2770]

​@@michaelwoods8654 If so, what's his agenda/POV? You can't just say someone is doing propaganda without saying what kind of propaganda it is.

[@jerryrichardson2799]

The irony is Ukraine had serious demographic issues _before_ the invasion by Russia. Zeihan has said that Ukraine would probably last another generation or so. I looked around a bit online and found that Ukraine has one of the oldest populations in the world, and the country was rapidly aging before the invasion.

[@Connor37911]

Well, a declining population causes lots of societal problems, but I doubt it means “they will only last another generation.” I like Zeihan, but he deals in predictions, which are hard, and he tends to exaggerate the effect of population decline, imo. It’s bad, but not “they won’t exist in 20 years” bad. And the population decline was a factor on both sides, as there was speculation that Putin decided to invade Ukraine when he did as he knew his troop strength would only decline more with time, and that the actual main goal of the invasion was to add Ukraine to Russia’s population.

[@lunacytty]

Ukraine right now has no any population, the biggest state in Europe but current size of population is about 20 mlns of people, meanwhile there is the lowest gdp per capita in whole Europe, 3000 usd, but fentanyl zombies so much care about Russia where summary population is about 150 mlns of people and gdp per capita 15000 usd , whole gdp 2.2 trillions, they must much more care about catastrophic decreasing in Ukraine first of all.

[@Dubliner-un9lw]

Ireland has a quickly declining birth rate and it's down to one thing: the cost of housing. The Irish housing crisis means most young adults are living in the family home. And not much of the baby-making business goes on when your mother is in the next room. A generation ago nurses, teachers and police officers could afford a house in Dublin (where the crisis is most pronounced) not too long out of college/training on a single income. Now they don't have a hope of affording to live at all in the city they're expected to work in. High net migration means Ireland's population is still growing, for now, but in the next couple of decades, especially with social attitudes to immigration changing there could be a huge reckoning.

[@to101md]

Migration doesn't fix birth rates. It just kicks the can down the road. Population increase does NOT mean housing gets cheaper, it's the opposite. I have no idea why you seem to think of it as a positive.

[@jimmyalexzander1941]

Housing and alcoholism 🤔🤔

[@Nathan-vt1jz]

It’s even worse for China. The one child policy was brutal to their demographics.

[@christophercasey6775]

The population in China is 1.3 billion. Overpopulated.

[@dannylive3000]

This is what happens when people understand children are not assets to be used for their own selfishness but people to be cultivated.

[@TheDragonofRevelation]

Children are assets! Don't you know? 😂✝️

[@cpttankerjoe]

Migration is an extremely short term solution to a very long term problem that has much worse cons than it has pros

[@Bertinator-nm9ld]

Why do you say that? Assuming you live in the US, and you're not a native American, you are a long term result of migration

[@calebbean1384]

Depends on a lot more factors

[@FromTheWombTotheGrave]

The solution is forcing women to have children like 1950s

[@cpttankerjoe]

@@Bertinator-nm9ld America is an asterisk because we don’t have a national ethnicity like Europe, Africa, or Asia does. But let’s stick with Russia. Simon even pointed it out in the video, “bringing in hundreds of thousands of foreigners and slapping a Russian label on them doesn’t make them Russian”. If your goal is to ethnically replace your people then brining in millions of others will certainly do just that. Look at Stockholm, London, Paris, Dublin. Almost none of these places are majority Swedish, British, French, Irish anymore. Assimilation rarely works. You displace your own people, lower their wages, and reduce the standard of living by brining in the “skilled” third world “workforce” (who rarely actually work btw) there is a huge difference between ethnic replacement and conquering of territory. Let’s look at Japan. They allowed a handful of Muslims and Indians into positions of power and their first goal, and openly saying so, is to replace the japanese population as fast as possible. The solution for an increased birth rate and sustained population should not be replacing that population with outsiders. But by keeping the outsiders out and promote indigenous population growth.

[@osakeleto]

​@@Bertinator-nm9ld ...thats the stupidest talking point i have ever seen.

[@MrHusker1996]

To be fair the demographic numbers are not any better in any european country. Also people in the west tend to have no idea about how shitty the 90s were in eastern europe from expected uncertainty to absolutely criminal privatizations, it was not a good time, so much so that Russia even almost declared bankrupcy. But while no european country has found a solution for their demographic developments, Russia starting a war is really not it.

[@teoleno4019]

I am from Eastern Europe. The 90s were depressive and almost everyone was trying to just survive. Russia has done so much damage, people here hate ethnic russians with every being in their bodies. The economy might have improved, but the memories of the suffering will never be forgotten or forgiven.

[@SpaceWhaIe]

That clip of Steven Seagal dancing at 17:28 is amazing. What a goober.

[@anthonyfrench3169]

I've been waiting for someone to talk about this problem

[@yourstrulyfocused]

We’re dealing with it a bit in the states as well too, but it’s more so people are just waiting until we get older post 35 to have children, but I can see those folks being genuinely scared to have children. Nobody wants to have a newborn for them to be fed to the meat grinder 😮

[@southwestedc]

Not really IMO its more that people have seen when you have kids young its almost always a more negative outcome than if you wait till youre stable and established

[@Deebles.]

People were waiting, now they’re finding that even waiting that long their situations aren’t improving, and the 4B movement is rising in popularity. In the states they’re not having kids and the rates are going down dangerously quickly 😬

[@jacob4920]

What meat grinder are Americans currently being fed to? We're not fighting any wars right now. What wars we are involved in is limited only to money and weapons being donated. It is quite arguable that right now is the BEST time to be having babies!

[@Deadassbruhfrfr]

@yourstrulybostonyourstruly3185 nobody wants to have kids when your husband or wife can just divorce you, after having several kids together. Or you're not making enough, or if you are. You just rather spend money on hobbies and trips, and nicer things. Life is short.

[@lajoyalobos2009]

The US would have a population issue as well (not as bad) but we have people immigrating to the US which replaces those that die out. Most immigrants come young, take their kids with them or have them here, and work for cheap.

[@Elemblue2]

What is different for them: Their birth rates are a protest of the regime, not support of it. He can't integrate that.

[@ignitionfrn2223]

0:45 - Chapter 1 - A demographic crisis 2:30 - Chapter 2 - Russia's birth & death rates; a decades long challenge 9:20 - Chapter 3 - Russia net migration ; solution or stopgap ? 12:55 - Chapter 4 - War ! ; what is it good for ? 21:50 - Chapter 5 - Russia's demographic future ; a forced change ?

[@ichifish]

Ironically Russia is also the largest country in the world and the one that most stands to benefit from climate change.

[@bjarkiengelsson]

Either they benefit or the permafrost melts, the nitrogen bubbles explode, and Siberia becomes an endless mass of trees rocks and mud. Just not as cold.

[@Entuaka]

Like Canada, most of the country is almost unpopulated because many people don't want to live where most the year is winter.

[@bioLarzen]

Yeah, all seventeen Russians still existing by the time will benefit loads ;)

[@malegria9641]

I was waiting on commenting this to see whether you pointed it out, but since you finally did about 16 minutes in, let me expand: Non-ethnic Russian birth rates are higher, especially in the Caucasus. In Chechnya, there are on average 15 live births for every death, for example. But the thing is: the Chechens and the Ingush, a closely related group, really do not have friendly relations with ethnic Russians (in Chechnya, due to two wars of independence, and in Ingushetia due to the Russians assisting ethnic Ossetians in their ethnic cleansing campaigns in the 90s. In addition, both were subject to a genocide by Stalin in 1944 which still looms large today). In Chechnya, Putin has a policy of basically giving them whatever they want (which leads to massive amounts of corruption, but that’s a story for a different time), and since he doesn’t want to provoke a third war of independence (an inevitability in my opinion), the men in Ukraine fighting in chechnyas name usually aren’t even Chechens. They’re Russians.

[@raketny_hvost]

they surely don't have if they live outside of Chechnya and serving in trashcans like ISIS

[@borisbazastuta4995]

3:35 7 abortions per woman is crazy

[@maritaschweizer1117]

It is not crazy it is a lie

[@borisbazastuta4995]

@ I hope

[@FromTheWombTotheGrave]

Yea Russian women are having children they should don't wanna bare the responsibility 🙃

[@VerminaeSupremacy]

@@maritaschweizer1117 nope. The only birth control available for population getting urbanized in small flats with many kids being looked down at.

[@RisEOfPhOeniX182]

Maybe they count taking a MAP also as a abortion. I dunno…

[@maxheadrom3088]

A couple of years ago I watched a online lecture held by Harvard with a demographer from another American university. During the Q&A someone asked if the 1990s economic crisis was one of the causes of the Russian demographic problems - and the specialist gave the short answer "No". Was that bad faith or ignorance (or ignorance based bad faith)? I'll later post a clip from BBC/Adam Curtis series "Trauma Zone". I also suggest the 40 minute documentary "The Children of Leningradsky" that's available on KZbin. Warning: it's a hard to watch documentary. It's extremely good and that makes it even harder to watch.

[@NSAsterus949]

To add some levity to what is definitely going to be a depressing video, let's take a moment to remember that Russian officials said that being busy with work was not an excuse to not make children, leading to the implication that people could totally get a conception in during their lunch breaks earlier this year

[@Mihailo_Slavutsky]

depressing?)

[@mrvwbug4423]

Where do they think they are, Germany haha.

[@NSAsterus949]

@Mihailo_Slavutsky Depressing that it's happening in general everywhere, not so much who it's happening to I suppose

[@TheDragonofRevelation]

The Kremlin is too busy feeding their young men into the meat grinder.

[@Mihailo_Slavutsky]

@@NSAsterus949 I did not know that all countries simultaneously send their population to meat assaults so that entire villages disappear.

[@TrineDaely]

Those condoms came two in a pack, packaged together and using powder instead of lube... can't imagine why no one would want to use those.

[@dabajabaza111]

People aren't having kids because it's too expensive.

[@sweden_is_xxxx]

@@dabajabaza111 I guess none of us should really exist then.

[@hkonhelgesen]

In the Russia,the war only makes it even more expensive.

[@jameslopez9661]

Yeah Russians make like 800 usd a month or something

[@variaxi935]

Clothing and feeding them is not tough. The difficult part is living up to modern standards where you feel obligated to buy each child a smartphone and game systems and premium namebrand clothing

[@henlohenlo689]

ukraine one of wealthiest regions in the world in its natural state worlds best farming soil ans europes bread basket. a designed coup and overthrow of govt turmed ukraine into proxy of usa and britain. becsuse of this the leadership in ukraine does treason against ukrainians. generally doesnt care. similar fact pattern on isreal. syria is now the new proxy.

[@bradlevantis913]

When you factor out immigration a lot of nations will face this. With the strong backlash against immigration in the past few years it’s only a matter of time

[@MK_ULTRA420]

Immigration doesn't really help an economy unless it's well regulated.

[@mrvwbug4423]

It will force the world as a whole to rethink the entire economic system. The population is going to decline, especially in the west and east Asia, you can't have an economic system that requires endless growth with a population that is going to start declining in the next decade.

[@osakeleto]

only people who have never dealt with organized crime love immigration.

[@Rain_la_Reine]

Ethnic replacement is worse than anything low birthrate can do.

[@NoctLightCloud]

​@@mrvwbug4423imo most people don't want children and never did. You can tell if you step back a bit and observe their behaviour. My grandfathers, probably your grandfathers and almost everyone's grandfathers especially were not invested in the upbringing of their children and had zero emotional interest in them. Today, there are no midwifes and no village to help raise the children and help ease the burden for young mothers. A very unnatural thing tbh, so the fathers should help. If the fathers don't step up, modern women aren't going to willingly carry that burden on their own. Especially in Russia where women have traditionally also worked, and "stay at home mom" was a luxury thing for the top 5%. And men in their 40s and 50s there are infamous for their alcohol and domestic abuse. How I know? I'm a Slavic woman myself. Young women are expected to miraculously be in love with babies and the idea of going through multiple pregnancies, while such expectations are almost never set for young men. They are free and can roam around as they want.

[@Connor37911]

It’s a hard sell to get people to immigrate to a dictatorship. Even if things are “not too bad” at present, you never know if the next dictator will be far worse, or if there will be civil war after each change in dictator.

[@millerrepin4452]

All that money spent on the Ukraine war was put into improving the living conditions in Russia they might not have a population crisis anymore.

[@maxhalsted5381]

What needs to mentioned that millions died during the First World War, Russian Civil War, Stalin's Five Year Plans & 20 Million Russians died in the Second World War. At wars end in 1945 the former Soviet Union was severely depopulated. I would argue that the Russian Population never recovered

[@jeremyyeargin3773]

Well if you look back at Russian history since at least 1900, there’s some absolute glaring correlations to a declined population

[@HubiKoshi]

Ironically it's not the World War 2 that really hurt them but the forced urbanization. Before Commies moved in Russia was a primarily agrarian society with large families and plenty of kids, they needed the hands to work the fields. Then Commies tried to speedrun Industrial revolution and chased people into cities which resulted in a large decline in birthrates like in most developed societies.

[@Larsenne]

Its hard to have kids and tell them to trust you, when you know you can't trust any of the local, regional or national government structures or personnel. America has a similar perceived issue

[@jerichofalls8236]

That tends to happen when your go-to military strategy for the last 80 years is "i wonder if they have more bullets than we have teenagers."

[@mercenarygundam1487]

*Russia's population problem* Oh no.... Anyway, moving on

[@alexanderdelektorsky5889]

That's what I say when I see UK's fertility rate, anglo piggies are practically not breading.

[@TheDragonofRevelation]

I feel sorry for the average Russian who has nothing to do with this.

[@andee6770]

@@TheDragonofRevelationagreed they are human too

[@mercenarygundam1487]

@@andee6770 Just sucks that they are always the ones that have to suffer for the screw ups of those in charge.

[@Jestervead]

@@TheDragonofRevelation Around 80% vote for putin and support him, so the average russian is also accountable for putin's decisions. Unfortunately, unlike most dictatorships, the russians actually like their tzar.

[@nicoleg2544]

A note on “7 abortions per woman on average” My mom’s aunt in USSR era Ukraine had 25+ in her lifetime, and herself worked in an abortion clinic where ALL of her clients were repeat / returning clients. I would recon the average is much, MUCH higher for that era, because not only was there very little access to birth control, there was also NO access to sex education, and many young girls (early to mid teens) learned about sex and pregnancy by having sex and becoming pregnant. There were a great many pregnancies, but few and far between were families that actually HAD a lot of children (more than 3)

[@DonDon45-i5h]

Your moms aunt had 25 ABORTIONS???? WTF???

[@nicoleg2544]

@DonDon45-i5h Please read carefully. I very explicitly stated “her aunt”. And yes, she had 25+. They pretty much didn’t have access to any kind of birth control and her husband was… something else, to be sure, and he didn’t much care about her desire (and lack thereof) to engage in marital affairs with him. So abortion was the only form of birth control readily available to her (and many other women in similar situations) at the time. It was quite a horrible collections of circumstances.

[@arktseytlin]

@@DonDon45-i5h А вот так вот. На западе вообще нихера на понимают с кем там имеют дело

[@okamisan3642]

Man, I got crap neighbors and I just need to get my mind off something. Thx, Simon

[@bioLarzen]

"Man, I got crap neighbors" Ukraine: "I feel you bro"...

[@semilio1]

In 1997 I heard that Russia would have 120 million, and Japan less than 100 million by 2030. Here we are in 2025 and Russia has 145 million and Japan 123 million.

[@LovelyAngel.]

And on top of that everyone's fixating that their populations are "declining"

[@dmitrydk92]

Ruzzia doesn't have 145 million people the real number is around 100 million

[@semilio1]

@ could you provide any math proving your number?

[@PaulJohn01]

And how many people are going to shed a tear over this ?

[@bornonthebattlefront4883]

In 1973, you could make twice minimum wage, and afford a house, a car payment, for your SO to not work, and feed 2 or 3 little mouths, all while taking at least 1, 2 week vacation a year In the modern day, to have 1 kid and 2 car payments takes both parents to have full time jobs, both making over 2x minimum wage The 1% used to own 75% of the wealth, and the 10% owned 90% of the wealth Now, the 1% own 90% of the wealth, and the 10% take 98% of the wealth The rest of us have nothing left to be able to afford a family I’d LOVE to have 2 kids and a home and 2 cars, and a wife who stays at home But guess what? Even though I work 5/10’s I still can’t afford even 1/3 of that I say good Maybe the few kids that are born nowadays, will be able to make decent money and afford houses due to significantly lower demand

[@TheDragonofRevelation]

Or we could all just go homeless and have kids on the street. But the women would rather die childless than to accept poverty. And besides, if you see your kids are in poverty, that might make the men rise up and the ruling class can't have that.

[@toddnolastname4485]

In 1973, you could have one TV, maybe about 20 inch or so, that could choose between 3 stations. In 2024, a station? Is that like Netflix or Prime? Of course, our screens have gotten smaller. At least, the one we keep in our pocket. The ones at home that are plugged into the X-box, are probably at least 3 times larger than the screen from back then.

[@bornonthebattlefront4883]

@ there was more then 3 channels in 1973, you are thinking of 1953 In 1973 there was at least 1 state channel, and 52 national channels at the time Besides that, technology advancements do not justify the steep increase in costs to literally everything else If houses were 50% cheaper, and rent was cut by 35%, but all electronics and electric services doubled in price to make up for it, we would still have money left over every month I don’t understand your point

[@Richard-x3h]

whens the last time u went job hunting ? there are lots of online school programs u can take and get a job making twice as much and work less with a little experience

[@Axel-ro7dn]

Sorry Simon but would it be possible to include closed captions in your videos ? I'm afraid to admit this but while I do grasp written English pretty well as a non-native speaker, I'm having more trouble understanding British English compared to American 😅 And the automatically generated CC obviously sucks ass

[@MSportsEngineering]

I second the request. Thanks!

[@adampeters9861]

"Just slapping a citizenship test on an Uzbek, a Tajik, or a Kazak and labeling them a Russian doesn't necessarily make it so." That's a great point --- think he'll ever apply the same principle to Britain?

[@DarkZodiacZZ]

What was that line from Freespace 2? "Their people have no present, only past filled with horror and a future they can only dream of."

[@WolfhasaWASR-e1e]

Nice

[@mho...]

Best Space Sim Ever! nice to know ppl still remember! truly a shame we never got a part3 of "yet another glorious franchise" 😮‍💨 amazing you catched a quote....been too many years to remember "lines" for me. biggest part that stuck with me from the serieswas , that"the great war" was just against a scouting party & in part2 the fleet arrives.....just epic stuff overall! i really miss the epic singleplayer games!

[@bixbysnyder-00]

Putin decided the fuse was burning too slowly in 2022, so he chopped the fuse in half and relit it.

[@mendez704]

Funny how Putin uses the same tactics to get slaves to fight its war in Ukraine as the Empire to get slave labor to build the Death Star in Star Wars.

[@AdminTeam-q5o]

There's too many people in the world, natural reduction in the birthrate is the kindest way to address that. Of course it's bad news for governments who want to keep their systems running as they always did, but at the macro level it's nature rebalancing.

[@jrssae]

Really appreciate this kind of analysis

[@Lucasolvalou]

This isn't just a Russian thing. All developed nations today have declining birthrates. Unless our modern society changes to ease the cost of child rearing and incentivize it, this trajectory will not change. Leaving immigration to become a more important, if not absolutely vital, aspect of every country's economy in the future. The simple fix I think is for governments to take care of their citizens and bolster them with progressive policies. So I guess we're stuck with this problem for a while yet.

[@TheDragonofRevelation]

Why would a government want to take care of its citizens when almost every politician either sees the public as means to an end or as subjects?

[@DonDon45-i5h]

your comment is true, except russia is the exact opposite of a developed country

[@Ilona231]

Since when is Russia a developed country? 😂😂

[@TheDragonofRevelation]

@Ilona231 Since they have amenities.

[@Lucasolvalou]

@ Dunking on Russia is low hanging fruit, I get it. But yeah, they have amenities. And nukes.

[@JayYoung-ro3vu]

The Russian population started its decline during The Great War (WWI). Another factor is the casualties incurred during WWII. A generation was lost. One must also factor in all the pogroms that the Soviet government did routinely.

[@dawnwilson1529]

The birth rate across the world is decreasing, that is a good thing....

[@LmaoZedong-69]

It’s not

[@k-tech2937]

@@LmaoZedong-69 it absolutly is, because most countries are overcrowded. For ruzzia it is kinda bad tho, since the have such a low population density. So it all rather depends on population density of any given country than on total number

[@sewur5034]

Ye it is unless you replace those people with immigration. It would lower property cost, increase wages and be easier to sustain e.g. with renewables.

[@bioLarzen]

COULD BE a good thing. The way it happens, it is probably not.

[@robertreed8848]

Peter Zeihan has been talking about this for years. China has a similar problem.

[@BobertV702]

It would be really interesting if you guys could also talk about the same population issue, but for Italy. With 58 million people, most of them in the following decades will grow older, and retire (This is a problem, because there will be more retired people than people who work. And here people who work are the ones that 'pay' the pensions of the retired people). The average age growing and growing, most jobs have no hope of growing salaries or growing future opportunities, no minimum wage at all, new borns at a very low rate, and brain drain as you guys said in this video ("Fuga di cervelli", people with high expertise and knowledge escape from Italy, towards near nations like Germany, Spain, France, etc.)

[@JasbirSingh-zj1fg]

The regime has no incentive to bad-mouth Italy or call its leaders insults. With Russia they do.

[@DawnchaserTheAdventurer]

Some other channels have. Italy's problems are at least somewhat solvable. Italy is a beautiful country with great weather, cultural and historical sites people want to visit, great food, and for €1 (and $30,000 for renovations), you can buy a whole house in the country. Local job opportunities aren't great, but for expats and remote workers with a decent salary, it's perfect. And is increasingly becoming a place Americans are flocking to for a lower cost of living and better quality of life Russia has none of those things going for it. Outside the 3 or 4 biggest cities, it's basically like you time traveled to the 1880s, but with radioactive groundwater. Infrastructure is in rotten shape, and it's dark and grim half the year. There's reasons the russian oligarchs all buy villas in France and Italy and Spain

[@JasbirSingh-zj1fg]

@@DawnchaserTheAdventurer Those villas were confiscated about two years ago, correct? I remember the western govts seizing a lot of property belonging to wealthy Russians and corporations when the country invaded Ukraine.

[@wamnicho]

@@DawnchaserTheAdventurer Italy will be full of Africans and then it will start looking like Congo in a few decades. Is that what you want?

[@BobertV702]

@@DawnchaserTheAdventurer You're right. I follow a channel called Vasya in the hay, and tremendous situations can be found in rural areas of russia.

[@Gazer-x5s]

Just another new reason for being an anti-natalist, war causes huge suffering for kids.

[@sydryi3086]

why the heck would any one think that invading a country and prolonging a war would be good for their population?

[@unifiedvision999]

At least half the world suffers the same upcoming crisis, including the United States.

[@federal_kingdom_of_illyria2023]

Usa is already in decline but online the immigrants are sustaining the population

[@mike7652]

They should offer reduced cost housing and tax breaks for people getting married and starting families. Actually, all countries should be doing that.

[@morstyrannis1951]

RuSSia is a dystopian kleptocracy. Until and unless that changes nothing else will change. This has been the state of ruSSian society for centuries.

[@calebbean1384]

US does offer tax breaks, housing would be nice though

[@mrvwbug4423]

The economic side of the solution basically boils down to affordable housing and child care. The cultural side amounts to ending misogyny and toxic masculinity, but without demonizing men as a whole. When women have a choice they won't date toxic men.

[@variaxi935]

Population reduction is FAR from exclusive to Russia. The main Asian countries are all facing this, as is the U.S. and plenty of other areas due to being so well-off that they're TOO eager to give their children happy lives, thus they limit the number of children to save money and to give two kids everything they want rather than having eight kids roam around and fend for themselves. It's gonna get crazy over the next couple generations and by the turn of the century nothing we're familiar with will be even close to what we once knew it as

[@mrvwbug4423]

It will require a complete rethink of society and civilization. Capitalism and nationalistic thinking won't survive a 20% global population decline.

[@variaxi935]

​@@mrvwbug4423 I completely agree, but I have no idea where to begin... pretty concerning stuff. I am afraid of the future

[@theliato3809]

@@mrvwbug4423 already happened acentury ago

[@WastelandSoldier0885]

No, the US is not facing the same problem.

[@Terminalsanity]

Ironically the only reason the issue as bad in the West & the US is because of mass immigration... which people in the West & US increasingly hate because of a combination of Russian propaganda, longstanding racism, anxiety about changing demographics & plain old stupidity.

[@joeseeking3572]

There are many who would argue that the US has rather a demographic problem as well. Not so much population shrinking, but wholesale compositional change.

[@to101md]

It is shrinking. Even the migrants' fertility rate drops sharply below replacement after 1 generation.

[@lindafarnes486]

Is a smaller population really a problem? And, while some couples don't have children, others are popping them out. I think history has shown that baby numbers seem to surge sometimes and sometimes not. It's never been documented as a problem.

[@FINNSTIGAT0R]

It's pretty clear Russia did not intend a war with Ukraine at all, not even the 3 day one, or how few days it's said to be by any given commentator. Their troops and the troop concentrations were for applying political/military pressure only. But then Vlad went off the rails and actually started the bloody thing, and it went about as well as could've been told to him by anyone, if he just would be up to receiving that kind of information. That few of troops and equipment spread thin all across the Russia-Ukraine border wasn't up to the task, not even for 3 days. It simply wasn't a serious invading force at all.

[@MyWitsEnd190]

The whole world has a low birthrate. For good reason. It's hard to plan a family when you can barely afford yourself. All whole watching the elites live luxurious lifestyles off our hard work.

[@kaneworsnop1007]

You missed the most important factor of Russia and most of the ex Soviet Unions problem, the population age pyramid. Their graph instead of forming a pyramid has massive chunks cut out of it a regular intervals, I think it's about every 20 years. The cause of this is due to historic massive population loss, particularly of people of breeding age. It started with the rise of Communism and the 5 year plan decimating the population, then when the people born during that period reached breeding age, the second World War happened, resulting in millions of breeding aged Russians being killed before having children, exacerbating the problem. Every time since that there's something which causes high death rates of breeding aged Russians, it coincides with this dip in population size of that age group, just like the Ukrain war is now.

[@Mentocthemindtaker]

No, this was very well covered in the video multiple times.

[@SinaAla]

“_______” population problem Add to the blank any of a series of countries: China, South Korea, Japan, Italy, Iran, Thailand, ETC. Different reasons, same result. People just aren’t having children like they used to.

[@FromTheWombTotheGrave]

Because of feminism and women standards.

[@TheDragonofRevelation]

Different reasons in some places. Iran had their own birth control programs due to fear of an inability to feed the population. Japan and South Korea are financial hell holes combined with feminism. Europe? It's culturally Marxist. Thailand? I have no idea.

[@DonDon45-i5h]

Except that if you were to deport the non British uk citizens out of the UK, the country will become bankrupt overnight

[@jamesjross]

2:00 "Simon will read anything that is put on that teleprompter. And when I say anything, I mean anything"

[@theawesomeman9821]

It's hard for me to feel sorry for a country that is actively invading another.

[@maritaschweizer1117]

We do not know the population of Russia as the last census is old.

[@spheleleNgubane-i4w]

It was in 2021 according to my research.

[@omezH4400]

Now more than 150 millions, because of Crimia and Eastern Ukraine.

[@mlight6845]

Is brain drain impacting the increase in the number of Russian ships that have sunk?

[@Emmuzka]

That, and corruption draining the money meant for upkeeping. How long can you keep 70 year old ships and 30 year old airplanes running?

[@mlight6845]

​@@Emmuzka I have no idea how people are not aware of Russia's massive losses in the last 3 years.

[@u2beuser714]

It has nothing to do with that those ships were sailing in open sea and they supposed to be in rivers

[@PGIV-d3t]

Doesn’t almost every developed country have a demographic problem ? Germany, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Italy, Spain, Poland, Greece, Ukraine, Norway, Hungary, Canada, China, Austria, Portugal, Switzerland, Finland, Croatia, Luxemburg all have even lower Birthrates than Russia. One gets the impression the focus on Russia specifically seems to be politicaly motivated.

[@jonathancurran5366]

They do but don't have Russia's high mortality problem.

[@tarlkudrick1174]

Strangely though, none of those other countries are losing 2,000 people a day *in addition to regular decline* because they started a pointless war with one of their neighbors. So I'd say Russia is a special case.

[@omezH4400]

​@@tarlkudrick1174Russia still maintain population more than 145 millions ,while Japan and Germany faced decline.

[@lioneldemun6033]

The guy is rabidly russophobic😮

[@agnkulik6694]

Wydaje się że żaden z wymienionych krajów nie prowadzi wojny, podczas której stracił już prawie 200 tysięcy młodych mężczyzn

[@lorekeepermeerah]

Maybe Putin shouldve focused on his people and improving their lives, rather than sending them to war ... a mistake I pray that America does not repeat in the next four years...

[@demilung]

There is a real quote by a real Russian official in reply to a person at a press conference asking about the social support programs: "It's your parents who owe you anything. The State didn't ask for you to be born"

[@nothingness863]

garbage propaganda is a garbage propaganda.

[@sH-ed5yf]

Not If He IS right

[@nothingness863]

@@sH-ed5yf not how it ever worked.

[@sH-ed5yf]

@@nothingness863 beeing right is how Propaganda never worked, my Boy. You call IT Propaganda cause you dont Like IT. We Approved IT cause ITS easy to prove

[@nothingness863]

@@sH-ed5yf what is this video about? about the demography trend faced by absolute majority of countries, without any significance for russia. thus it's a pathetic propaganda. I have no opinion of the demographic decline of the world population. and there is no "we", you are alone, little man.

[@sH-ed5yf]

@nothingness863 Well the difference ist with 1.3 the birth rate IS incresible Low compared to Others Western nations. And different to Western nations russia doesnt partially solve IT with Migration. In fact this was one of the reasons for the war. Putin wanted to make ukrainians into russians

[@firstnamelastname9215]

Humans are tired of seeing our kids suffer so we won’t have kids to fight wars

[@TheDragonofRevelation]

That's ALWAYS going to happen with or without your potential kids. Just accept it.

[@spheleleNgubane-i4w]

I don't think every child that is born will fight in some war.

[@firstnamelastname9215]

@spheleleNgubane-i4w correct only the lower and middle class kids will.

[@TheDragonofRevelation]

@spheleleNgubane-i4w No, not every child will grow up to be a soldier but the dead is there.

[@Nobody_special__]

We got simular problems in the west, the birthrate is in massive decline here too.

[@Yuck412]

Soviet-era abortion rate was SEVEN per woman!? That's insane!

[@BenzG1L]

You should now make a video about the African continent who continues to a have birth rate that the poor populations/nations simply cannot support. While so many die of malnutrition at a very young age, the Catholic church keeps pushing against abortion, which only keeps feeding this disaster of lost human life. Who will control/stop this frenzy?

[@321-Gone]

Why is population growth so important? Unlimited growth doesn’t seem so utopian.

[@andrewyoung8550]

You need enough growth to replace the current pool of workers, otherwise the economy contracts which is bad because capitalism needs some form of growth to work. Remember it’s not a perfect system just seems to be the best one we’ve invented thus far as humans that has been put into actual practice.

[@OhhCats]

@@andrewyoung8550 Even constant population is not sustainable in the long run. In 200-300 years from now most of natural resources of the planet will be depleted. Declining population is actually a good process - it softens the future global crisis and gives humans more time to adapt to a new situation where most of the commodities will be much more expensive than they are now

[@liberallioness4335]

Speaking as a woman and a mom I wouldn't want to raise my children any place that is under autocratic control 💯

[@mike7652]

Like Canada or the UK? Those places will throw people in prison for words online. Maybe you prefer Ukraine? Little comedian dude has ended free speech, snatches people into vans and forcibly conscripts them, and cancelled recent elections. Our Democracy™ and all that.

[@christopherh2570]

Well no country is truly democratic, even the US. Tell .e who voted to send Ukraine tens of billions instead of focusing on investing into Healthcare Education.

[@leopard_52]

​@christopherh2570 yeah but the US is better beyond compare in pretty much every way. Russia is an awful country to live in.

[@Goobywoobygoo]

@@leopard_52 do they have negro riots or child castration?

[@liberallioness4335]

@@christopherh2570 Even when we r talking about how bad Russia is there is always one person whose gonna try to slam the US aiding Ukraine in defending themselves

[@karenhawkins8510]

Aw Simon, this does gives me hope.

[@lelandunruh7896]

I will be forever grateful to my great-grandfather for leaving the Russian Empire for a civilized country.

[@solracer66]

The 144 million population estimate you quote includes Crimea the other annexed territories including the pre-war census population of areas that it claims and does not control. I suspect even in Russia itself a lot of the recently migrated 1.5 million people are being counted as well. So likely the real population of Russia proper is well under 140 million and could be as low as 136.5 million (144 million minus 6 million in Crimea and the 4 other annexed oblasts minus the 1.5 million recent migrants) and even that number is probably high given the 770,000 killed and injured in Ukraine.