Russia's population dropped by nearly 9.5 million in the past 10 years, officials said Thursday.

Although Russia's births have risen to an average of 1.5 million annually, deaths dropped to 2.3 million a year, which means the country needs another 800,000 births to maintain the current population, Vladimir Kulakov, a presidential demographic advisor, told a news conference.

A week earlier, the Federal State Statistics Service also reported a population shrinking.

Russia's population, the largest in Europe, has been declining since 1992. Kulakov attributed the drop to several factors including changes in the social values of young couples.

In a report last year, the United Nations Development Program urged Russian officials to pay attention to the country's demographic crisis. The report forecast that the population could shrink by one-and-a-half times by the mid-century if the state fails to provide better medical and social care to its citizens.

The United Nations estimated this year that Russia's total population was around 143.2 million.

Source: Xinhua