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Deaths Outstrip Births in Russia
March 20, 2002
MOSCOW (AP) - Deaths in Russia dramatically outstrip the number of births, the country's health minister said Wednesday, blaming heavy smoking and alcohol abuse for low life expectancy rates.
Health Minister Yuri Shevchenko said Russians' ``way of life'' is at fault for the country's demographic decline, according to the ITAR-Tass and Interfax news agencies.
More than half of Russian adults smoke, and as many as 30 million Russians abuse alcohol, ITAR-Tass reported.
Russia has seen one of the world sharpest peacetime population drops since the 1991 Soviet collapse, losing half a million people or more every year for a total of 144 million as of earlier this year. Demographers blame the decline on shriveling birth rates and lower life expectancy linked to crime and worsening health care.
Of the more than 2 million Russians who die every year, 600,000 are of working age, according to Health Ministry materials released Wednesday at a news conference.
The death rate surpasses the birth rate by 70 percent, Shevchenko said.
He urged parliament to pass a bill restricting tobacco and alcohol advertising.
``I don't have anything against beer itself, but the advertising of beer is the advertising of a disgusting way of life, which can lead young people God knows where,'' Shevchenko was quoted as saying.
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