State policy and national project demography

The paper deals with the process of developing a new national project Demography, which is unprecedented in the new Russian history in the scale of costs and in the range of problems and tasks requiring significant changes in the current economic policy. The project is considered by the RF Government, along with other 11 national projects, as a form of implementation of the objectives and tasks set in the Presidential Decree of May 2018. The purpose of this work is to identify the problems faced by the project developers, to analyze the proposed solutions, and to compare the present Russian practice with similar foreign experience. The author gives estimation of the fulfillment of the tasks set in the Presidential May Decrees of 2012, identifies the contradictions between the national project's objectives and the proposed methods for their attainment, and shows the need for taking managerial decisions in the project Demography, mutually agreed with other national projects because of their high interdependence. The paper proves that the proposed measures are not sufficient for achievement of the set goals. There is given assessment of the possibility of using the experience of foreign countries in solution of similar problems, shown low efficiency of some projects in these countries and the importance of adapting policy for specific needy families and groups. A special attention is paid to the role of scientific studies successfully implemented in management practice in the form of programs, sample surveys, in expansion of statistical information as the basis for adequate and effective decisions by the governments of separate countries or the European Union. It is shown that conglomeration and internal inconsistency of the national project can be a major obstacle to its implementation. Clarifying a number of items in the national project Demography will contribute to taking more effective decisions.