Russia's future

George Will reflects on an article by Nicholas Eberstadt, Drunken Nation: Russia’s Depopulation Bomb.

The symmetry is striking: in the last sixteen years of the Communist era, births exceeded deaths in Russia by 11.4 million; in the first sixteen years of the post-Soviet era, deaths exceeded births by 12.4 million.

Not enough people are paying attention to demography. Russia does not have a future as a world power. It may not have a future at all.

Update: Then there is China's future. China may become the world's super power by mid century, but demography suggests it will not be the world's superpower by the end of the century.