Niall Ferguson: Putin’s Incredible Shrinking Russia
Yuri Kadobnov / AFP-Getty Images
Thousands of people protesting Vladimir Putin's alleged vote-rigging on the streets of Moscow this week got media types excited about a "Russian spring." "The U.S. economy is 10 times larger than Russia’s. Per capita gross domestic product is not much higher than in Turkey. Male life expectancy is significantly lower: 63, compared with 71 on the other side of the Black Sea. And the population is shrinking. There are nearly 7 million fewer Russians today than there were in 1992. By 2055, the United Nations estimates that the population of Egypt will be larger."
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