Russia’s population is declining even as it emerges from the worst of the Covid-19 epidemic, underlining the government’s difficulties in reversing the slump as President Vladimir Putin wages war in Ukraine. Deaths exceeded births by 311,200 people in the first four months of this year, compared with 304,500 a year earlier, data published Friday by the Federal Statistics Service show, adding to a decline in migration to Russia. “Demography is the first task” for the country, Putin told a group of young Russians on Thursday. “We should have more people and they should be healthy.” The president has warned for years of a threat to Russia’s economic and geopolitical future from the sliding population. He has sought to boost the birth rate by offering mortgage subsidies to families and expanding a program of “maternal capital” payments to women who have children. The Covid pandemic […]