[Characteristics of medical-demographic processes in rural regions of Russia].

The serious medico-demographic problems of the last decade had a most negative impact on the rural population. A negative natural increment and a high level of aging of the rural population were evident as long ago as in the seventies. The number of children born to unmarried mothers is traditionally higher in villages, and the expected life span is lower there than in towns. Mortality caused by injuries, respiratory diseases, and infections, including the mortality of infants aged under one, is higher in the country than in towns. Urgent reasonable sociodemographic policy is needed to preserve the population of Russia, including its rural population.