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Wednesday, 30 March 2005
RUSSIA FACING ACUTE SHORTAGE OF ABLE-BODIED MEN
By empty (3/30/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Regional Development Minister Vladimir Yakovlev said on 30 March that up to 60 percent of Russian males today are either underage, elderly, or handicapped. Of an able-bodied male population of about 20 million, nearly 1 million are in prison; about 4 million are serving in the military, Interior Ministry, Emergency Situations Ministry, or Federal Security Service (FSB); some 4 million are alcoholics, and about 1 million are drug addicts. Moreover, mortality among men is about four times the rate it is for women.
Regional Development Minister Vladimir Yakovlev said on 30 March that up to 60 percent of Russian males today are either underage, elderly, or handicapped. Of an able-bodied male population of about 20 million, nearly 1 million are in prison; about 4 million are serving in the military, Interior Ministry, Emergency Situations Ministry, or Federal Security Service (FSB); some 4 million are alcoholics, and about 1 million are drug addicts. Moreover, mortality among men is about four times the rate it is for women. \"In the very near future, we will simply have no labor force at all, as the losses among the male population are comparable to those the USSR suffered during World War II,\" Yakovlev said. (ITAR-TASS)