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Coronavirus pandemic

Putin points to unfavorable demographic situation in Russia and role of pandemic

Russia has so far recorded 5,982,766 cases, 5,359,995 recoveries and 149,138 deaths

MOSCOW, July 19./TASS/. The coronavirus pandemic and the earlier emerging demographic holes have brought about an unfavorable situation with the levels of births and the mortality rate, President Vladimir Putin told a session of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects on Monday.

The Russian population grew by 3.8 million between 2012 and 2018, Putin reiterated. "Regretfully then, for a number of reasons we have seen in the past few years this unfavorable picture from the point of view of births and the population decrease," he stressed. Among the reasons Putin cited "two demographic holes, plus this unfortunate coronavirus".

However, the authorities should look into this situation "most attentively, given that we are investing large sums of money," Putin noted, explaining that he also implied primary care. "There must be some kind of return from this," he noted.

Putin urged the government to look more attentively at this figure. "Of course, these aims must be realistic, but still ambitious," he believes. This also concerns the aim of increasing life expectancy to 75 years by 2025. "As I understand, this goal won’t disappear anywhere. We must not forget about this in any case, we need to work on this," the president emphasized.

According to the federal anti-coronavirus crisis center, Russia has so far recorded 5,982,766 cases, 5,359,995 recoveries and 149,138 deaths.

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