This "article based on data for the last census of the former USSR and population estimates for 1993 for urban places of over 15,000 population in the Russian Federation surveys the regional distribution, economic functions, and size characteristics of urban settlements in Russia with declining population over the period 1989-93. Interesting comparisons are drawn with patterns prevailing during previous periods, revealing recent increases in the number of such towns in major manufacturing regions and the North and an increase in the number of large cities. Towns experiencing the very greatest percentage declines (-10.0 percent or more) also are investigated."
The author "reviews recent population changes in Russia, relating trends in fertility, mortality, natural increase, and migration to the social and economic effects of the transition to a market economy. Significant trends (a precipitous drop in fertility, an extraordinary increase in mortality--especially among middle-aged males--and a consequent decline in natural increase) are identified and analyzed, with dislocations caused by the uncertainties of economic and political transition suggested as the principal causes. The effect of net in-migration to Russia (probably mainly ethnic Russians from the Near Abroad countries) in partially offsetting the natural population decrease is examined as well."