THE DEMOGRAPHIC SECURITY OF RUSSIA AND ITS REGIONS: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

Abstract

The relevance of the article is determined by the critical situation in the population’s mortality rate and health standards as well as by the state of things in the birth rate, marriage and family sphere in the context of threats that the demographic processes instability can bring to the Russian economy as a whole. The article discusses approaches to the concept of «demographic security», analyzes crisis phenomena in the demographic and migration processes and in the human reproduction sphere that threaten the economic growth of Russian regions. The centerpiece of the article is devoted to problems of the contemporary Russia related to alcoholism, drug addiction and smoking. The authors focus on current issues of the family policy and preservation of the family institution in Russia highlighting the problems associated with the spread of informal marriage, the growing number of abandoned children and challenges of adoption and child custody. The authors investigated in detail the issues of the birth rate increase, particularly in the aftermath of the social stratification of Russian society, and pay special attention to the issues of the male working population health maintenance in modern Russia, as well as to gender disproportions in the demographic structure of the population and education. The measures of the demographic and family policy proposed in the article to remedy the situation established in modern Russia can be used by federal and regional government authorities.