Russia's Oligarchs Are Becoming More Russian, Having More Kids, Basically Better Than You in Every Way
Let's look at the stats.
A clever blogger compiled the data and ran the stats on Russia’s elite stake in the future of the country. The results should be encouraging, or at least not as disappointing as the results that we see when compared to other countries. Here are the reproductive rates of Russia’s wealthiest.
(He provides total numbers as well as percentages right next to one another).
Russia:
The Forbes List for 2022 lists 105 Russian billionaires.
Starting with billionaires older than 52:Without children: 6 (7%) One child: 12 (14%) Two: 26 (31%) Three: 17 (20%) Four: 6 (7%) Five or more: 16 (19%)
It turns out that the “Old” generation of Russian billionaires is 22% childless and one-child, 26% reproduced and 52% reproduced at higher rates than that.
Russia’s "old" billionaires had, on average 3.02 children.
Billionaires younger than 52:
Without children: 4 (18%) One child: 0 (0%) Two: 4 (22%) Three: 3 (13%) Four: 6 (27%) Five or more: 4 (18%).
The record holder is Tatyana Bakalchuk (owner of Wildberries, a Russian-equivalent Amazon online shopping an distribution center) with 7 children. All with one husband. Well done Tatyana!
Russian “young” billionaires had, on average 3.04 children, i.e. there is even a slight positive trend. Especially since some of them will probably give birth again. Bakalchuk gave birth to 3 children out of her 7 in 2020-2021! Here is someone who did the coronavirus quarantine right!
More conclusions from the data:
The sheer extent of the gerontocracy immediately catches the eye. Out of 168 people, 20 people are over 80 and 5 more are over 90. The oldest is 99 years old! And, of course, among the "youth" (and there are only 17 of them), the youngest is 36, while in other countries there were people under 30 years old in the list of the wealthy elite.
Anyone over the age of 60 was basically raised well into adulthood as a Communist. And yet, almost all of Russia’s Communist-educated elites are oligarchs now. Funny that.
(Actually, it makes perfect sense, I even use this as an example of what perennial oligarchy looks like in my book).
He also had this to say:
For centuries, expanded reproduction under favorable conditions was the prerogative of the elite. In Rus', both peasants and nobles bred cheerfully, and the advantage of the latter was only in the better survival of children. At least until they entered military service.
…
And here the elites from among the aristocracy, and then the merchants, showed a much larger number of children than the "cattle".
Here is the executive summary:
The list was comprised of 60% of Russians by 2018. It is clear that now this proportion is even higher.
So Russia’s oligarchs have gotten notably more Russian since the 90s. Good news indeed. Let’s take a look at the political elite next.
And finally, let's take a look to be sure, what about our bureaucracy-administrative system? How are they with children?
Russia is a country of governors with many children!
Of the 85 heads of regions in 2020, 32 have large families! In total they have 214 children i.e. an average of 2.52 children! Childless there is only one! But this is Dmitry Artyukhov - he is now 36.
… about the nationality of those governors according to which 77% are Russians.
In general, we live in a country where the elite has clearly formed the opinion that four or five children is an element of success, similar to a large mansion, a yacht and a bunch of luxury cars. In contrast to countries like the defeated and regularly mocked Germany, where the elite must ride a bicycle and bequeath money to Greenpeace.
I think it is clear to whose elite the future belongs. And who is destined to win the fight!
Now the full post compares Russia’s elite to other countries. You can check it our for yourselves. Surprisingly to some, I suppose, the reproductive rate of the Chinese elite and their prospects for the future are extraordinarily dismal compared to Russia and to even the US. Sino-triumphalists ought to take a look at this data before proclaiming premature victory. It is a very bad sign if even the elite don’t see a future worth reproducing into in their countries. I don’t know why China has such uninvested elites, but I figure it has something to do with having to live in China.
The only thing worth adding here is that the picture is a lot more nuanced. The Russian economy is mostly under state or quasi-state control. Basically, Putin and his close oligarchs control most of the key monopolies and the power that someone like Igor Sechin enjoys, for example, is greatly magnified by his proximity to power. Some put the share of the Kremlin in the economy at 70%, which reflects an almost consolidated economic and political elite. So, yes, the oligarchy controls the economy, but the oligarchy is also the state. If, in the Soviet Union, a political elite seized power and then took control of the economy, the opposite occurred in the RF with an economic elite then taking control of the political system thanks to a compromise and power-sharing deal with the remnants of the spook state which Putin was chosen to be the guarantor of. This gets into the perennial nature of oligarchy, which I cover in my book, and which you may as well read because you get it for free when you subscribe to the blog.
So go do that right now. Subscribe to the blog. I’m not kidding, we are falling behind projected growth patterns and I may not reach my stated goal of earning $1000 a month from my writing by June, which will be a disappointment to me and which will lead to me lashing out at my readers and bullying them even harder. You have the power to prevent this if you have $50 to pay for a yearly subscription or become a monthly subscriber. No one will be to blame but you. Yes, you. How dare you refuse to fund me and my work. You are stealing my future. How dare you!!!
No, but seriously, we are going to continue to dive even deeper into the ethnic balance of the political/economic elite of Russia in the post below. I don’t want to get into too much trouble by exposing this information to the general public and thereby bringing attention on myself. So, see you on the other side.
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