MOSCOW, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Russia's population stands at 142,857,000 people with an average age of 39, an official report of the 2010 census said.
The new count drops the country down a step in world population standings, ITAR-Tass reported Friday. Russia previously had the world's seventh-largest population, but now it is eighth, after China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Married couples decreased from 34 million in 2002 to 33 million in 2010, with the number of divorces on the rise.
The census showed the Russian population is falling. The 2002 census showed a population decrease from 1989 of 1.8 million, which grew to 2.3 million since then. The biggest drop was among rural populations.
The number of rural settlements has also decreased, with 8,500 of them no longer inhabited.
