HSE Distinguished Professor, Anatoly Vishnevsky, Dies at 85

HSE Distinguished Professor Anatoly Vishnevsky, Director of the HSE Institute of Demography, died this past week at the age of 85.

Prof. Vishnevsky was an outstanding scholar, arguably the most renowned demographer of Russia and the post-Soviet space. He contributed significantly not only to the field of demography, but to social history and population economics. A man of encyclopaedic knowledge, he actively participated in public life and the activities of international organizations such as the UN, UNESCO, the European Association for Population studies, and others.

Anatoly Vishnevsky earned a degree in Statistics from Gorky State University in Kharkov in 1958. He held a Doctor of Sciences degree in Economics (1983) and was a member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.

In 2007, he was appointed head of the newly created Institute of Demography at HSE University, which was established jointly with the Centre of Demography and Human Ecology of the Institute for National Economy Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

In 2014, Prof. Vishnevsky was awarded the title of Honoured Economist. In 2017, he was awarded a Badge for Outstanding Contributions Made to the Development of State Statistics.

In 2010, he received a Golden HSE Award for Achievement in Research in honour of his profound scholarly contributions to demographic theory and demography in Russia over the years, as well as for his creation of a demography research team, which he led for over 20 years while based at the RAS INEF Centre of Demography and Human Ecology prior to 2007, and then at the HSE Institute of Demography.

Anatoly Vishnevsky authored over 500 publications, including not only research papers, but also opinion pieces and fiction. His novel Zhizneopisanie Petra Stepanovicha K. (A Portrait of Pyotr Stepanovich K.) was nominated for the Russian independent literary prize, the Russian Booker.

January 15, 2021