UNITED NATIONS, November 13 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's population will decline by 34 million people by the middle of the century to 107.8 million, a UN population report has said.
The UN Population Fund said in its 2008 report, issued on Wednesday, that the country's population would decline by 0.5% per year from the current 141.8 million.
The prediction has been revised from 2005, when the organization said that Russia's population would drop by 31 million by 2050.
Russia's government has launched several programs aimed at tackling the acute demographic problem, including a system of incentive payments for second children.
In its report, the UN Population Fund said the world's population would increase to 9.2 billion by the middle of the century, up from the current 6.7 billion.
