Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly urged citizens to engage in procreation during working hours. The president of Russia has suggested that workers have romantic meetings during their lunch and coffee breaks in an effort to increase the country’s population.
As per the report by Metro, Putin said, “The preservation of the Russian people is our highest national priority. The fate of Russia depends on how many of us there will be. It is a question of national importance.” The suggestion comes as the fertility rate in the country has dropped to 1.5 children per woman, which is much lower than the 2.1 rate needed to ensure demographic stability. Moreover, it is expected that the population of Russia will decrease to about 130 million by 2050 from the current population of 144 million.
Similar to Putin, Health Minister Dr. Yevgeny Shestopalov rejected work as a justification for not having children. He said that being really busy at work is a cheap justification rather than a good one. “You can have children during breaks because life goes by too quickly,” he added.
In order to examine their reproductive health, women in Moscow between the ages of 18 and 40 are encouraged to undergo free fertility assessments.
Member of Parliament Tatyana Butskaya has presented a strategy to monitor and promote childbirth among employees. She said, “Each employer should look at their workplace: What is your birth rate? Do all of you who are capable of bearing children have one more child this year?”
While access to abortion is becoming more and more restricted, women under the age of 24 years in Chelyabinsk are being rewarded £8,500 for giving birth to their first child. Public faces and religious leaders have maintained that it is a woman’s duty to bear and nurture children, with divorce fees also rising as part of the government’s efforts to promote family growth.
Furthermore, Anna Kuznetsova and Zhanna Ryabtseva have also encouraged women to start having children at a younger age. “You should start giving birth at 19-20 years old. Then, statistically, the family will be able to have three, four, or more children,” Kuznetsova said.
Interestingly, Putin never publicly disclosed about his own children. However, he has two daughters from his marriage to Lyudmila Putina, two sons from his former partner Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva and reportedly another daughter from an extra-marital relationship.