Overview

• Anton Kotjakow briefed President Putin this month that Russia must integrate roughly 10.9 million new workers by 2030 to offset retirements and meet projected demand.
• The Kremlin has rolled out larger maternal capital payments, tightened abortion regulations and introduced emergency hiring policies to enlist retirees and teenagers.
• In 2024, births fell to 1.22 million—the lowest since 1999—while recorded deaths climbed to 1.82 million, and fertility incentives have yet to reverse the trend.
• Casualties on the Ukraine battlefield and the emigration of young professionals continue to shrink Russia’s available workforce.
• The resulting labor gap has driven up wages and inflation and compounded economic strain under ongoing war costs and Western sanctions.