Financial Times April 4th 2022
Ukraine War Threatens to deepen Russian Demographic Crisis.
In the years before declaring war on Ukraine, Putin was campaigning to increase the birthrate in Russia. It had fallen below replacement level in 1989. It fell as low as 1.2 children per female at the start of this century but had risen to 1.8 five years ago. As the article points out the war is having a triple negative impact. Sanctions will reverseeconomic growth and put pressure on families. Young men will die in the war.Migration is increasing. This is all storing up problems for the future.
The article estimates that some 70,000 young men from the tech sector have left Russia in the four weeks since the start of the war. It is thought that 100,000 more will follow this month. They are talented and this has given them mobility. Russia has offered exemption from military service for the higher educated. It has even subsidized their mortgages. All to try to keep them.
Israel in particular has seen the opportunity this presents.They have offered fast track “green visas” for Russians and Ukrainians with key skills. They estimate that as many Russians as Ukrainians have emigrated to Israel. The fight for migrants appears to be heating up!