In 2018, Russia reported its first overall population decline in a decade (since 2008). Vladimir Putin claims credit for reversing Russia's demographic decline. And he probably deserves credit, since Russia's total fertility rate (TFR) began rebounding from its late-1990s trough right around the time he took power. Unfortunately, that much-higher TFR can only do so much against the impact of the emerging dearth of women in the high-fertility age brackets (age 20 to 30). The best Russia can do is keep the TFR up and wait until that Yeltsin-era famine passes. (See: "Russia's Demographics Are Anomalous.") By the early 2030s, the children of Putin's own fertility recovery will begin to make a difference.