You knew it was coming. Putin decides he will take power back.

[Hauldren Collider]

VoA is, remarkably, still less liberal than NPR. I wouldn't call it an ideal news source though.

[Hauldren Collider]

I don't know if this has been touched on, but what about infant mortality and life expectancy. Russia (under the USSR) had about the same stats as Canada, now you're substancially lower. Russia is currently on par with many African countries.

You mean Russia when it lied about its statistics was about the same as Canada?

[Uncle Sparky]

Sure why not. And all news out of Russia is currently true.

Anyway, in the late 80s, the average life expectancy for a male baby in Canada was a little over 71 years. It is now a little over 78 years. (These were WHO projections, ergo not appropriate for HC). Back in the USSR, in the late 80s, the average life expectancy for a male baby was almost 69 years. Currently in Russia - about 58 years.

Now on the plus side for Putin and his droogs (from the Russian), that is an improvement over 6 years ago when the estimate life expectancy was about 53.

[Serb]

Sure why not. And all news out of Russia is currently true.

Anyway, in the late 80s, the average life expectancy for a male baby in Canada was a little over 71 years. It is now a little over 78 years. (These were WHO projections, ergo not appropriate for HC). Back in the USSR, in the late 80s, the average life expectancy for a male baby was almost 69 years. Currently in Russia - about 58 years.

Now on the plus side for Putin and his droogs (from the Russian), that is an improvement over 6 years ago when the estimate life expectancy was about 53.

Source?
From wiki:
While Russia has more physicians, hospitals, and health care workers than almost any other country in the world on a per capita basis, since the dissolution of the Soviet Union the health of the Russian population has declined considerably as a result of social, economic, and lifestyle changes; (yeah, try to dissolve Canada and see what happens with your life expectancy) the trend has been reversed only in the recent years, with average life expectancy having increased 2.4 years for males and 1.4 years for females between 2006–09. As of 2009, the average life expectancy in Russia was 62.77 years for males and 74.67 years for females.

In 1990 these numbers were 63,73 for males and 74,3 for females. Since the collapse of the USSR in 1991 these numbers droped to 58 and 72 approximately. Since 2006 the numbers started to grow and now nearly reached 1990's pre-collapse marks.
As for the demographics:
In 2009 Russia recorded annual population growth for the first time in 15 years, with total growth of 10,500. 279,906 migrants arrived to the Russian Federation the same year, of which 93% came from CIS countries. The number of Russian emigrants steadily declined from 359,000 in 2000 to 32,000 in 2009. Russia's birth-rate is higher than that of most European countries (12.6 births per 1000 people in 2010 compared to the European Union average of 9.90 per 1000), while the death rate is substantially higher (in 2010, Russia's death rate was 14.3 per 1000 people compared to the EU average of 10.28 per 1000). However, the Russian Ministry of Health and Social Affairs predicts that by 2011 the death rate will equal the birth rate due to increase in fertility and decline in mortality. The government is implementing a number of programs designed to increase the birth rate and attract more migrants. Monthly government child assistance payments were doubled to US$55, and a one-time payment of US$9,200 was offered to women who had a second child since 2007. In 2009 Russia saw the highest birth rate since the dissolution of the Soviet Union.


p.s. Droog = a friend. Friends = druzya, not droogs

[C0ckney]

just out of interest what kind of migrants is russia attracting and what kind of people are leaving?

[Serb]

Who cares? 279,906 arrived 32,000 left. That's more important. There are still millions of ethnic Russians live in the neighbouring countries. That's not surprising cause these independent countries were parts of our common country - USSR. Then USSR collapsed and millions of Russians wake-up in independent countries as national minority. It's not really surprising many of them return to their historical motherland. That flow started right after collapse of the USSR and still going.

[Jon Miller]

I have heard that many of the republics are even worse off than Russia (including Ukraine).

My Russian friend says that the middle class especially wants to leave Russia, that there isn't much there for them.

JM
(He has left)

[Uncle Sparky]

I used the WHO (World Health Org.) for my source, as I stated in my arguement. I tend not to use Wiki, as anyone can post anything.

I used Droogs, as I often do, in homage to Anthony Burgess, "A Clockwork Orange", though the word is Nadsat rather than Russian

[C0ckney]

jon, i've heard similar things, but it's only anecdotal.

serb, it does matter. if the educated middle class were/are the ones leaving then that is going to cause problems in the longer term.

[Dinner]

just out of interest what kind of migrants is russia attracting and what kind of people are leaving?

My understanding, and I believe Onodera has spoken about this in the past, is that highly educated and well travelled people are leaving Russia while it is mostly the lesser educated who are moving there from other areas which used to be part of the USSR. There is nothing wrong with that though it does mean a brain drain of some of Russia's most talented young people.

[Imran Siddiqui]

n/m

[Pekka]

A tough one. I think Russia benefits from Putin. If we think that people support Putin, then the whole "he already served two terms" wouldn't really matter too much. So the question would be, does he have the support, and does he have it in a way that is fair; do the people get balanced view, an opportunity to see what the alternatives are? Maybe the answer is no. But I think it is only fair to realize we, and by we I mean Europeans, have absolutely crap media as well. Real journalism is rare. Tabloids are going strong.

We KNOW our media sucks and we are living in denial if we think it's really that great. Yeah yeah yeah it might be free in terms of regulating body being there to rule according to certain principles and sometimes protect journalists but media houses suck, they have too many other interests as well. Since when do we get news that just reports what happens and nothing else? It's a tricky business, a difficult field and we have failed in it. So we don't have a balanced view either. No one does.

Media does not choose presidents or those in power but they surely can't be bothered to do their job either.

IF we had enough REAL journalists, breaking stories of corruption and revealing things of interest to us all, who knows what would happen. I believe people would be still passive and pretty pissed off and not do anything about it, but I think the biggest and organized crimes done are done by the people in power and we just sort of are OK with it.

So... Putin? It's just same stuff, different day. The more our media makes him look like a bad guy, the more I want an actual journalist to go and find out and none of this talking heads stuff. There's always two sides to a coin.

[Fake Boris]

I do feel uncomfortable speaking with brainwashed idiots like this guy. Why should I waste my time on him? Where are moderators anyway. I need a vacation. I must be getting old, just a few hours on Poly and I want me banned.

Serb, you are correct that Putin is genuinely popular, but on some points you look ridiculous, like when you wonder why there weren't any protests... C'mon.

You are also a tool if you think that the media in the "traditional" democracies is close to be even as bad as in Russia. The truth is that ours suck, and yours is a joke. And I'm using the terms ours/yours not because I feel some sort of national anti-Russian sentiment, just because it's faster and convenient.

"Democracy" is a complex term. There is more to it than mere suffrage, and suffrage is pretty much the only thing democratic about Putin.