ABERYSTWYTH, United Kingdom: In some parts of Russia, schoolgirls who become pregnant are being paid more than 100,000 roubles (about US$1,270) for giving birth and raising their babies.
This new measure, introduced in the past few months across 10 regions, is part of Russia’s new demographic strategy, widening the policy adopted in March which only applied to adult women. It is designed to address the dramatic decline in the country’s birthrate.
In 2023, the number of births in Russia per woman was 1.41 – substantially below 2.05, which is the level required to maintain a population at its current size.
Paying teenage girls to have babies while they are still in school is controversial in Russia. According to a recent survey by the Russian Public Opinion Research Centre, 43 per cent of Russians approve of the policy, while 40 per cent are opposed to it. But it indicates the high priority that the state places on increasing the number of children being born.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin regards a large population as one of the markers of a flourishing great power, along with control over a vast (and growing) territory and a powerful military. Paradoxically, though, his efforts to increase the physical size of Russia by attacking Ukraine and illegally annexing its territory have also been disastrous in terms of shrinking Russia’s population.
