Mitrofanov S. V., Yanbykh R. G., Orlova N. V., Nikolaev D. V. Demographic challenges for Russian rural areas and their impact on staffing of agriculture // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2025. V.10. №3. P. 38-67.

EDN: FIPUNN

Annotation

The article considers the demographic-institutional challenges of Russian rural areas and their impact on staffing of the agro-industrial complex (AIC). The authors focus on such key trends as depopulation, aging and urbanization, which reduce labor resources in agriculture, on structural changes in the age and gender dynamics of rural population, migration and degradation of social infrastructure (health, education, culture), which exacerbates the shortage of personnel in agriculture. The article describes the impact of demographic changes on the rural labor market in terms of growing latent unemployment, archaization of employment and declining quality of human capital, and regional differences in the demographic situation and their implications for sustainable rural development. Based on statistical data, the authors predict a further decline in rural population and a deterioration in its age structure, proposing such measures as the development of rural infrastructure, labor mobility and modern technologies in agriculture.

Keywords

Rural areas, demography, human resources, agriculture, urbanization, labor resources, migration, social infrastructure.

About the authors

Sergey V. Mitrofanov, PhD (Agriculture), Head of the Department of Economics of Innovation in Agriculture, Institute of Agrarian Research, National Research University Higher School of Economics. Pokrovsky Bl., 11, Moscow, 109028, Russia.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Renata G. Yanbykh, DSc (Economics), Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Head of the Department of Agrarian Policy, Institute of Agrarian Research, National Research University Higher School of Economics. Pokrovsky Bl., 11, Moscow, 109028, Russia.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Nadezhda V. Orlova, Head of the Institute of Agrarian Research, National Research University Higher School of Economics. Pokrovsky Bl., 11, Moscow, 109028, Russia.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Dmitry V. Nikolaev, Expert, Department of Economics of Innovation in Agriculture, Institute of Agrarian Research, National Research University Higher School of Economics. Pokrovsky Bl., 11, Moscow, 109028, Russia. 
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.