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Nearly a dozen regions in Russia are preparing to offer a cash payment to young women who give birth, Russian outlets are reporting, but there’s a big catch.
According to the Moscow Times, Monetary birth incentives It will be offered in at least 11 Russian regions and will go into effect on January 1, 2025. If a young woman successfully carries the child to term, they will be paid 100,000 rubles, or approximately C$1,300.
The bonuses, which were first announced in a handful of regions in the summer, come with strict criteria. While it varies by region, all require expectant mothers to be full-time students at a local college or university. Additionally, they must be under 25 years old when they give birth.
Eligibility is also voided if the mother does not carry the child to term, meaning a stillborn baby would disqualify the woman from receiving the payment.
Last month, Russia’s House of Parliament voted unanimously to ban what authorities grow as Dangerous propaganda for a child-free way of lifehoping to boost a faltering birth rate, Reuters reports.
Official data published in September put Russia birth rate at its lowest point in a quarter century While death rates rise as Moscow’s war in Ukraine continues and a war exodus sees citizens move abroad. The Kremlin called the figures “catastrophic for the future of the nation.”
President Vladimir Putin has said three-child families should be the norm in Russia to secure the country’s future.
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He Ban child-free propaganda It also includes any content deemed to promote “non-traditional lifestyles,” such as same-sex relationships or gender fluidity, as well as dissident accounts of the conflict in Ukraine. Violators can face large fines.
“We are talking about protecting citizens, primarily the younger generation, from information disseminated in the media space that has a negative impact on the formation of people’s personality,” said Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the Lower House and a senior ally, in November. After the ban was announced.
“Everything must be done to ensure that the new generations of our citizens grow up focused on Traditional family values. “
In the last month, Russian lawmakers have made radical and panicked changes to health policy, as well as offering new cash incentives, in an attempt to correct low birth rates.
The government has proposed using public funds to pay for newlyweds’ nights in hotels in the hope they will conceive, as well as encouraging women to use their breaks at work to have sex with the intention of getting pregnant.
A Regional Health Minister, Yevgeny Shestopalov, said on Russian television in September that women should “engage in procreation on breaks.”
According to Newsweek, he added: “Being too busy at work is not a valid reason but rather a lame excuse. Can participate in procreation during breaksbecause life flies too fast.”
And last year, Newsweek also reports, a member of Russia’s lower house suggested that The prisoners are released to procreatehoping to increase the nation’s birth rate, and their prayers are canceled if they succeed in having a child.
The country’s health authority also announced expansion to fertility testingwith some women in Moscow who reported receiving unsolicited referrals to testing clinics.
Russia is not the only country dealing with low birth rates. According to Statistics Canada’s report released in September, the Canadian fertility rate in 2023 was 1.26 children per woman, which is the lowest level recorded since the agency began collecting data.
A Statcan report released in January said Canada, like other countries, is riding the “pandemic rollercoaster” with more families postponing having children.
& Copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
