In July, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the country's low birth rate was "catastrophic" for Russia's future. Russia's birth rate is at its lowest since 1999 with the number of live births falling under 100,000 in June, causing concern in Moscow over what has been described as a severe population downswing. From January to June of 2024, 599,600 children were both in Russia — 16,000 less than the same period in 2023, according to data published by Russia's governmental statistic agency Rosstat. Over the same period, Russia's population decline accelerated by 18%, with 49,000 more deaths recorded in 2024 than...