Regional differentiation of ageing characteristics in Russia

Gaiane Safarova, Saint-Petersburg Institute for Economics and Mathematics, Russian Academy of Sciences

Population ageing in the Russian Federation (RF) is not homogeneous – there are significant gender disparities and rural/urban differences. This heterogeneity should be taken into account for social policies to be effective. Russia has the biggest territory and regional differences in demographic processes may result in differences in ageing characteristics. The paper aims at revealing them. There are 89 regions in the RF arranging into 7 federal Districts (FD). By the beginning of the XXIst century sufficiently universal demographic situation took place for all Russian regions: fertility declines reaching below replacement level, high mortality determines low life expectancy. Nevertheless considerable regional differences in fertility, mortality and migration characteristics take place resulting in age-structural differences leading to regional differentiation of ageing. A number of ageing characteristics (e.g. the proportion of the population aged 60+, ageing index, old-age dependency ratio, parent support ratio) are computed and compared for all regions of the RF. Data of the first census conducted in independent Russia (year 2002) are used. The lowest values of all considered ageing characteristics have been observed in The Far East FD, the highest ones – in The Central FD. To demonstrate differences in ageing characteristics within a FD, the regions of The North West FD including the city of Saint-Petersburg have been considered. On the background of general trend of ageing characteristics increase, for regions of the RF ageing characteristics vary considerably. Thus, socio-demographic policies should take into account age-structural changes in general and regional differentiation of ageing process in particular.