Children and young people in Russia: global challenges of modernity

The present-day world’s development is becoming more and more uneven and new global challenges are emerging. Russia should respond to them by enhancing its economic competitiveness, preserving and increasing its population and human potential, first of all, that of children and young people. The paper points out that for the Russian Federation with its vast territory and substantial reserves of natural resources the most important geopolitical challenges consist in the preservation and increase of population and human potential. The authors prove that the formation of the population of Russia is under double “pressure” of high mortality and low fertility; therefore, natural movement (decline) is not completed by mechanical movement. In addition, the article determines that the share of young people in the total population is decreasing. For the first time in the history of Russia the share of children has become lower than the proportion of the elderly. In 2013 in 56 Russian regions, the proportion of children and adolescents accounted for less than 20% of the population (in the early 2000s, there were 41 such regions, and in 1990 - three). In addition to the reduction in the number of the population, child health potential is also deteriorating: about 35% of children in Russia are born ill or become ill in the near future (the figure is 30% in the Vologda Oblast). The number of adolescents aged 15-17 who are accounted for severe mental disorders is continuously increasing. The greatest socio-economic damage to the society comes from suicides that are widely spread among young people (the younger generation (persons up to 24 years old) accounts for one third of all the potential years of life lost from suicides). At the same time, young people consider health more valuable than does the population as a whole (4.5 points vs 4.4 points on a five-point scale). But young people underestimate the importance of self-preservation behavior. World experience shows that efficient development and productive use of the youth potential is the main advantage of the countries with innovation economy. The article shows that if the level of development of professional competencies is high, the level of innovation activity (projects, developments and inventions) among students is also high (3.93 points vs 3.69 points - in the absence of developments).