Belgorod region population falls below 1.5M

The population of Russia's Belgorod region has fallen below 1.5 million for the first time since 1999, with a total loss of 54,400 people since the beginning of the war in 2022. Official data shows the number of registered voters in the region has also decreased by 26,000 since 2023. Regional statistical offices in Belgorod, Kursk, Voronezh, and Lipetsk have stopped publishing population data by order of the Russian government, making it difficult to track the exact scale of out-migration. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov previously stated that about 60,000 people, primarily from border municipalities, had left the region by the end of 2025.