Russian cross (demography)

A Russian cross, also known as a death cross, is the name of a demographic trend that occurred in Russia and many other countries of the former Warsaw Pact. In Russia, starting in 1988, birth rates among native Russians (as well as most other ethnic groups of the European part of the former Soviet Union) were declining, while from 1991 (at the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union) the death rates started climbing.

Source: Wikipedia — Russian cross (demography) (CC BY-SA 4.0)