Russia's Key Birth Rate Collapses To Lowest In Two Decades

• 23.01.2026, 16:27

Contrary to Putin's appeals.

The total fertility rate (TFR), which reflects the average number of children per woman of childbearing age, has fallen in Russia for the tenth consecutive year by the end of 2025.

As reported by "Vedomosti" with reference to Rosstat data (not officially published), as of December the TFR fell to 1.374 (against 1.4 at the end of 2024). Last year's value was the lowest since 2006: then the SCR was 1.305, follows from the official state statistics in EMISS.

The maximum value of the total fertility rate in the modern history of the country Rosstat recorded in 2015 - 1.762. Since then, it has lost 0.388 points, or 22%, which was the strongest drop since the 1990s: then the SCR collapsed from 1.892 in the last year of the USSR to 1.157 in 1999. At the same time, the drop in the birth rate 10 years in a row publicly available statistics in modern history has never recorded before, according to the data in EMISS.

Contrary to Vladimir Putin's calls for the authorities to give birth to 8 children and return to the traditions of large families of ancient Russia, the total birth rate of third and subsequent children has also declined. In December, it amounted to 0.362 (against 0.376 a year earlier) and fell below the pre-war level (0.364 in 2021).

How many children are born in Russia is not reliably known. Last fall, Rosstat classified the statistics, which it used to publish once a month. The latest available data showed that in 2024, the number of births fell to 1.222 million babies - the lowest since 1999. Compared to 2014, the birth rate fell by a third, and in January-March 2025 it set an anti-record since the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries - 288 thousand children in three months.