MOSCOW (AFP) -- Russia's population grew this year for the first time since 1995, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday, after years of precipitous decline following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

""We can say with a high degree of confidence that Russia will register a growth in population for the first time since 1995,"" Putin said at an end-of-year government meeting broadcast on state television.
Putin said official statistics to be released later would bear this fact out and his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, confirmed that the population growth occurred this year.
In eight years as president prior to becoming prime minister in 2008, Putin frequently lamented the steady and sharp drop in Russia's population since the Soviet collapse, describing it in 2006 as the country's biggest problem.
That decline has been due in large measure to emigration from Russia but has also been attributed to a number of other factors including high rates of alcoholism, high stress and low public health standards.
In his annual presidential address to the nation that year, Putin laid out a three-pronged strategy for boosting the Russian population.
His plan focused on extending Russia's notoriously low life expectancy, increasing the rate of new births and implementing a more ""efficient"" migration policy.
In August, Russia saw its first month of population growth in 15 years, Golikova said, with the birth rate increasing by around 1,000.
According to figures published in November by the Federal Agency for State Statistics, Russia's population stood at 141.
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