Russia\'s population dropped by 454,200 during the first half of 2003 to 144.5 million, according to the State Statistics Committee. The birthrate lagged behind the death rate. The death rate overall rose by a factor of 1.7, while the number of deaths in some regions jumped by a factor of 2-3. Migration increased by 1.2 percent compared with the first half of 2002. \"Politburo,\" No. 26, argued that Russia\'s main demographic problem is not the low birthrate -- which is common in modern, developed countries – but the high adult death rate. According to the weekly, the leading causes of death in Russia are typical neither of developed nor developing countries. One important factor in the high death rate is alcohol consumption, and there is a close direct correlation between the alcohol consumption per person and the death rate. After the anti-alcohol campaign launched by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986, the death rate fell. According to Aleksandr Nemtsov, director of the information and research department of the Moscow Psychiatric Scientific Research Institute, alcohol consumption correlates not only with the general death-rate dynamics -- when it increases, the death rate increases -- but also with many other leading causes for death -- with the exception of infectious diseases. (RFE/RL)