Medvedev Steps Up Efforts to Boost Population

President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday promised to step up the fight against the country's dramatic demographic decline, boosted by the news of the first annual population increase since 1995. But Health and Social Development Minister Tatyana Golikova warned that a host of negative factors need to be tackled, including a looming drop in women in their fertile years and sky-high abortion rates. Moscow Times