The number of deaths in Russia this year will likely exceed births by the most in more than a decade, according to the RBK news outlet.
Deaths have surpassed births by 259,600 over the first 10 months of the year, according to data published on December 11 by Russia's state statistics agency.
The difference is unlikely to change over the last two months of the year and thus could be the largest natural decline since 2008, the news agency said.
The influx of migrants did not cover the natural decline over the first nine months, the news agency said. Migrant data for October is still not available.
Thus, Russia could see a total population decline for the second year in a row, RBK said.
Russia's statistics agency fixed the country's population at the beginning of the year at 146.9 million, a number that includes the illegally annexed region of Crimea.
