"If nothing is done, Russia's population will halve by the end of the 21st century," Putin said at a session of Russia's Security Council.
The United Nations earlier warned that Russia's population - which stood at roughly 145 million in a 2002 census - could fall by as much as a third by 2050.
"We are facing a critical line - during the last 13 years the number of dead [Russian] citizens exceeded the number of new-borns by 11.2 million people," Putin said.
Demographic problems dominated the president's May 10 state of the nation address, when he said the population was falling by 700,000 people a year and instructed the government to give women at least 250,000 rubles ($9,200) each as financial aid following the birth of a second child.