The population of Russia in 2018 had a population of 146 million 801 thousand 527 inhabitants, which is 9th place in the world. The average population density in the country is 8.58 people / km 2. On the European territory of Russia, the density is much higher than on the Asian. The population density of the Asian part of Russia is 3 people / km 2, and on the European - 27 people / km 2. This leads to the fact that most of the residents are concentrated in the European part of the country, although its area is only 20.82% of the total area of Russia. The northeastern part of the Asian territory is the least populated, due to unusually harsh conditions. So, in Chukotka it is less than 0.07 people / km 2. The population of the Asian part of Russia (based on Wikipedia data) will be: (100 - 68.36) * 146801527/100.
The share of urban population is 80.9%. There are 16 million-plus cities in the country. The dynamics of numbers is greatly influenced by migration. As for the natural demographic dynamics, its indicators are rather low. The country is in the top ten countries by the proportion of people of retirement age. For 1 pensioner, we have 2.4 employees. The opposite situation is in Uganda, where the share of retirees is only 1/9. The population of the European and Asian parts of Russia differs significantly in both national composition and traditions.
Asian part of Russia
This is the entire territory of the country located in the Asian macro-region. European from Asian territory is shared by the Ural Mountains. The latter includes the Ural region, Siberia and the Far East. The total area is 13.1 million km 2, or 77% of the territory of Russia.
Natural growth in the European part of the country
The European territory of Russia is dominated by negative population dynamics. It is especially characteristic of its central and western parts. Here the indicator in places reaches -7.1. This is due to both lower fertility and higher mortality. In the south and east of the ETF, the situation is noticeably better.
Poor demographic indicators in this part of the country can be associated with the predominance of agriculture in the structure of the economy, and hence a higher share of the rural population, which has been declining especially recently. Labor mechanization reduces the need for a large amount of labor. In the villages, for the most part, people of retirement age remain who do not want to go anywhere because they are used to the village. As for younger people, work in agriculture is far from everyone's liking. Many would prefer not physical labor, but office work with higher wages.
Another reason for low rates and active migration to cities may be the low quality of medical and other services in rural areas. Families with children will prefer cities where medicine, education are better, and there are entertainment venues where the child could be taken.
Natural growth in the Asian part of the country
In the Asian part of Russia, the population is more stable, and the situation with natural growth is generally better than in the European part. In most regions, it is positive. The situation is best in the West Siberian oil and gas producing region. The indicators here reach 11.3. However, gradually the demographic indicators of the Asian part relative to the European are getting worse. Now people often try to leave the harsh northern and northeastern regions of the country to the south and west. In the Soviet period, on the contrary, the population actively migrated to the northern regions, where they were significantly higher than their salaries.
Reasons for Higher Performance
Higher demographic indicators in the Asian region may be related to the smaller role of agriculture in the economy. Here, on the contrary, industry and resource extraction are more developed. Higher wages, more attention is paid to infrastructure. The extraction of raw materials and its processing attracts young specialists.
The cities of the Urals and Siberia have a greater impetus for development than the provincial cities of the European territory of Russia, where agriculture dominates. Another reason may be the national composition of the population, with which certain traditions are associated. In the native Russian regions of the ETR, the ethnic groups of Central Russia dominate, which are not characterized by a high birth rate.
