Mikhail Zurabov said the number had decreased by 157,000, or 18% in the last two years. "This is an encouraging tendency," he said.
Zurabov said adjusted predictions for Russia's demographic development up until 2015 would be submitted to the government in May.
The Minister told the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, that the predictions would include several figures that the country is expected to reach. In particular, a possible increase in the fertility rate from the current level of 1.34 to around 1.65, an increase in the number of births nationally by 0.7-0.8 million per year, a lowering of the infant mortality rate, and an increase in the life expectancy from the current 65.6 years to 70 years.
Zurabov said that state incentives for parents to have a second child could enable the population to grow by 1.2 million annually.
