But Russia remains essentially a “rentier state” – that is, a state whose primary source of revenue is rent – in this case, oil and gas – rather than taxation, which thus keeps demands for political representation at bay. Instead, the state is the target of political entrepreneurs who strive to capture it in order to capture the rents that it controls.
较长期的趋势也改善了。自世纪之交以来（这段时间，死亡人口超过了出生人口，比率为7比4），由于政府给生育第三胎发放大量补贴，生育率从1999年每位妇女生育1.16个孩子的低谷上升到了2010年的1.58个孩子，快速的人口衰退已停止。这仍然远远低于2.1的替代率，但是较高的生育率以及减少男婴死亡率的成功措施已经使人口萎缩的速度放缓。