Although I am a physicist, I began to study demography about15 years ago, in the belief that the key global problem was not so much the threat of nuclear annihilation as the dynamics of population growth. It was a grim recognition that Russia faces the opposite problem: a rapid decline in population that threatens every aspect of Russian life.
尽管我是一名物理学家，但是由于相信核毁灭的威胁还不如人口增长的生机勃勃给全球主要问题所带来的威胁严重，15年前我开始研究人口学。但是，我却认识到一个残酷的事实，即俄罗斯正面对着截然相反的问题：人口的剧减已经威胁到俄罗斯人生活的每一个层面。