Vanishing Numbers in Russia

In 2025, Russian federal agencies removed 140 datasets from public access and stopped updating at least 425 statistical indicators, with demographic data taking the biggest hit, according to the research Yesli Byt Tochnym ("To Be Precise") project.

The blackout is part of a yearslong trend toward secrecy that began before 2025, with some of the biggest data removals taking place in 2022 and 2023. The Federal Customs Service closed detailed import and export statistics, the Prosecutor General’s Office stopped updating its legal statistics portal, Rosstat withheld full cause-of-death data, and the Social Fund removed detailed disability statistics.

The withdrawn data generally falls into three categories: economic and financial figures, mortality from external causes, and crime statistics. Economic data could theoretically be used to justify new sanctions, mortality figures to estimate wartime losses, and crime data to highlight negative social trends.

“The trend toward greater secrecy dates back to around 2018,” said Ivan Begtin, director of the NGO Information Culture. “The first to go are datasets that allow independent conclusions contradicting official rhetoric and are used by foreign analysts to monitor sanctions’ effectiveness.”

In 2024 alone, agencies removed 385 datasets, though many had already been stripped of meaningful content. This year, removals continued: 140 files were deleted in the first half of 2025.

In the summer, updates stopped for most core demographic metrics: birth, death, marriage, and migration rates. Of 68 active demographic indicators on the EMISS (Unified Interdepartmental Statistical Information System), 39 have missed scheduled updates, while another 21 have not been refreshed refreshed.

Demographer Igor Yefremov said the halt in monthly demographic reporting may be a reaction to negative media coverage even in pro-government outlets. He called the move “senseless,” arguing that these statistics were not a reliable source for estimating military losses or other highly sensitive data.

Yefremov warned that ending annual demographic bulletins will harm not only academic research but also the work of federal and regional agencies that rely on them for monitoring population trends.

Agencies have also stopped publishing most mortality statistics, not only for external causes, as in previous years, but also for other major killers such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. The only remaining publicly available mortality figures are traffic fatalities, aviation accident deaths, and rare incidents on river, sea, and rail transport. The Interior Ministry no longer publishes monthly homicide death counts, though it still releases semiannual data. Rosstat has stopped providing mortality data on request altogether.

More than half of the indicators on EMISS are now unavailable or long outdated. These include the number of overturned criminal case initiation orders, completed investigations, Russians leaving for work abroad, foreign patients treated in Russia, the share of Defense Ministry roads meeting standards, and the Agriculture Ministry's weekly figures on haymaking and feed harvesting.