Demographic problems of the Middle Urals and the ways to their solution

The article examines the processes of population natural increase and migration in Sverdlovsk oblast. Positive trends of the increase in the number of population in the region observed in recent years do not testify to normalization of the population reproduction processes. This becomes evident in comparison of the population number in recent years with that in the previous years and in analysis of the intra-regional differentiation of the demographic and migration processes. All increase in the population of Sverdlovsk oblast during recent years belongs to the oblast center Yekaterinburg and its suburbs. It is mainly due to migration of population from other regions of Russia and from other countries. Rural areas and marginal territories of the region are losing their population through natural decrease and migration. This leads to their actual depopulation in the foreseeable future. However, it is the countryside that could ensure the oblast population growth by extended reproduction. In recent years the total fertility rate in rural areas of the region is steadily over 2.1 children per woman that is sufficient for mere reproduction, and it is significantly higher than the corresponding indicator in towns. Regretfully, rural residents make up only about 15% of the total population in the Middle Urals, and the high fertility in rural districts cannot compensate for the low real fertility in towns and urban-type settlements even without regard to the differences in mortality. To solve the problem it is necessary to elaborate and implement special programmes for socio-economic development of rural areas and small urban settlements.