Russia's population continued to fall in 2007, but the decline was slightly less than the drop in 2006. According to the RIA Novosti news agency, Russia's population had fallen by 207,600 to 142 million as of November 1. Citing the government's statistical service, it said that there had been an 87.9% jump in immigration to Russia, with most of the newcomers coming from former Soviet republics. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been working to improve Russia's demographics with measures like increased maternity benefits. The United Nations has warned that if recent trends continued, Russia's populations could shrink by a third by 2050. Two other interesting tidbits from the statistical service's report: Russia's wealthiest 10% control 30.4% of all income in the country, and 15.8% of the population earn less than the minimum subsistence level of 3,800 roubles ($155).

Russia's economic growth may slow in 2008, according to Reuters. The news agency polled nine economists for their forecasts and published the results on Friday. They see Russia's GDP growing by 6.7% in 2008, which would be down from 7.6% for 2007. They also expect the rouble to strengthen by about 1.4% against the dollar. Putin told a meeting of the State Council this week that the government should make fighting inflation its top priority next year. But Reuters noted that the president has also promised to boost wages for Russia's military personnel and other government employees.

In business news, French car maker Peugeot Citroen plans to build its first factory in Russia. The new plant, which will be located in Kaluga, could begin turning out cars in 2010. According to the BBC, Peugeot hopes to sell 100,000 vehicles in 2010 and three times that many in subsequent years.

Two bits of space news. The head of Roskosmos, Russia's equivalent of NASA, was quoted in The Economic Times of India as saying that Russia and India might jointly develop a space station. Anatoly Perminov indicated India's contributions would focus on carrier rockets, components, a global positioning system and mission control and ground tracking equipment. In a separate interview in Moscow on Thursday, Perminov said Russia might suspend space tourism after 2009. Apparently, there will be more crew members flying and so there will be fewer seats for tourists, who had reportedly been paying Moscow $20 million a trip.

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