Russia Takes Double Punch as Vanishing Workers Fan Prices

The aging workforce is packing a double punch for the Russian economy.

The unborn generation of the 1990s, a period of hyperinflation and instability after the Soviet breakup, left the nation depleted of younger workers. Unemployment is at a record low, putting pressure on wages and helping keep inflation near the fastest since 2011. The poor demographics are shaving 0.5 percentage point off economic growth a year, according to the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, which estimates the working-age population will shrink by as many as 15 million people, or more than the size of the Russian capital, by 2030.