Cablegate: Message Deliverd On Global Summit On Aging

VZCZCXYZ0016
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMO #1037 0711514
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 121514Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8152
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS MOSCOW 001037

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SOCI ECON TBIO RS
SUBJECT: MESSAGE DELIVERD ON GLOBAL SUMMIT ON AGING

REF: STATE 29783

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY.

1. (SBU) We shared REFTEL information regarding the upcoming Global
Summit on Aging with officials from the MFA's International
Organizations Department and the Human Rights Department, the
Ministry of Health and Social Development's International Relations
Department (MOHSD), and the WHO's Moscow Office. The MFA and MOHSD
have not yet offered any substantive comment (relevant health
officials are all currently attending international health
conferences in Germany and Belarus). The WHO's Moscow Office
expressed general interest in the meeting and noted that this is an
important issue for Europe.

2. (SBU) The issue of aging would be of general interest to Russian
officials from the broader perspective of the country's demographic
crisis. Facing a net population loss of 560,000-740,000 persons per
year (based on 2005 and 2006 statistics), the Russian Government has
made it a national priority to improve the country's demographic
situation. Russia does not yet face some of the most acute issues
associated with the rapid growth in the "oldest old" population,
because the average life expectancy in Russia is about 10-12 years
lower than in the United States and Western Europe. The country
does face trends similar to Western Europe in terms of a low
fertility rate and a declining working age population, whose
earnings must support an increasing number of retirees and
pensioners.

BURNS

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