OREANDA-NEWS  The natural decline of the population (the excess of the number of deaths over the number of births) in Russia in 2024 increased by 20.4% compared to 2023, amounting to 596.2 thousand people against 495.2 thousand, Rosstat reported on Friday in a report on the natural movement of the population for 2024.

The number of births in 2024 decreased by 3.4% to 1 million 222.4 thousand children from 1 million 264.9 thousand in 2023.

The number of deaths in Russia last year increased by 3.3% to 1 million 818.6 thousand people from 1 million 760.2 thousand in 2023.

As reported, the natural decline of the population in the Russian Federation in 2023 decreased by 17.4% compared to 2022, amounting to 495.2 thousand people against 599.6 thousand people in 2022, and in 2022 the natural decline decreased by 42.5% compared to 2021 (1 million 42.7 thousand people).

Rosstat previously reported that, according to preliminary estimates, the population of the Russian Federation (excluding new territories) at the beginning of 2025 decreased to 146.028 million people from 146.151 million at the beginning of 2024. Rosstat makes population estimates without taking into account official statistical information for the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), Zaporizhia and Kherson regions.