November 06, 2024

Another Consequence of the War?


Another Consequence of the War?
A blind man in Ekaterinburg. IvanA, Wikimedia Commons

According to data from Russia’s Pension Fund, in 2023, for the first time in over a decade, the number of people with disabilities in Russia rose.

As of December 31, 2023, 11 million Russians had disability status, marking an increase of 108,000 from the beginning of the year. The independent publication Verstka attributed this rise to growth in childhood disabilities and possible corruption in medical examinations, especially in the North Caucasus regions. Contributing factors may also include registrations from occupied territories in the ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine and military injuries.

Since 2011, the number of people with disabilities in Russia had steadily declined, a trend authorities linked to the aging of an older generation of disabled citizens. The upward trend seen in 2023 marks a significant shift. Notably, Rosstat (Federal State Statistics Service) data does not account for territories occupied in Ukraine since 2022.

The North Caucasus Federal District saw the largest regional increase, accounting for over 30 percent of the rise. Dagestan and Chechnya reported nearly double the growth elsewhere, with 14,800 and 12,400 new cases, respectively. Following these regions were Novosibirsk Oblast and Moscow Oblast, with increases of 7,600. Demographers cite widespread false disability claims in the North Caucasus, where approximately 15.9 percent of Chechnya’s population reportedly holds disabled status, more than twice the national average.

Childhood disabilities also contributed to the rise, accounting for one-third of the increase. In 2023, 89,000 children were diagnosed with disabilities, the highest number since at least 2008.

Migrants from occupied regions may have contributed significantly to the rise in both child and adult disabilities, according to a demographer interviewed by Verstka. In 2023, 93,700 residents of occupied regions registered as residents in Russia, particularly in Moscow Oblast, Rostov Oblast, and Krasnodar Krai. These regions saw some of the highest increases in childhood disabilities.

The data also showed a marked increase in disabilities that may be linked to military injuries. The category for “simultaneous hearing and vision impairment” saw a 75 percent rise, likely due to injuries such as concussions. Disabilities requiring wheelchair use increased as well, with 79,000 people registering — 23,000 more than in 2021. Determining the proportion of disabilities attributed specifically to military injuries, however, remains challenging.

You Might Also Like

Population Problems
  • October 23, 2024

Population Problems

According to a UN report, Russian population numbers may have already passed their peak. 
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
How Russia Got That Way

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955