30 years without the USSR. Part 3. Demographic crisis

Continuation of a series of articles on the causes and consequences of the collapse of the USSR. One of the results of this event was the demographic crisis, the main components of which were a sharp decline in the birth rate, an increase in mortality in the republics of the former Union, and massive flows of forced migrants. In the Russian Federation, as in most other republics, the mechanism of long-term population reduction (depopulation) was launched. There were direct, indirect and conditional (hypothetical) losses of the population. The article continues the theoretical discussion between supporters of the theories of “demographic transition” and “demographic crisis”, supporters and opponents of demographic policy, analyzes statistical data on the Russian Federation and a number of other post-Soviet states for 1991-2021, examines excess mortality in the 1990s and during the COVID-19 pandemic, estimates relative population losses Russia for 30 years. Conclusions on the socio-economic policy of saving the population and rationalization of demographic policy are formulated.