Putin's baby push struggles amid Russia's shrinking and aging population

FOR a quarter century, President Vladimir Putin has faced the specter of Russia’s shrinking and aging population.

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A family walks through Red Square in Moscow, Russia

(AP)

In 1999, a year before he came to power, the number of babies born in Russia plunged to its lowest recorded level. In 2005, Putin said the demographic woes needed to be resolved by maintaining “social and economic stability.”