In an attempt to increase a declining birth rate, Russia’s lower house of parliament overwhelmingly decided to outlaw what officials describe as harmful promotion promoting a childless lifestyle, reports RTE.
According to official data issued in September, while Moscow’s conflict in Ukraine continues, the birth rate is at its lowest level in 25 years, while death rates are rising.
The numbers were deemed “catastrophic for the future of the nation” by the Kremlin.
In order to safeguard the future of Russians, President Vladimir Putin, who has portrayed Russia as a bulwark of “traditional values” engaged in an existential conflict with a corrupt West, has urged women to have at least three children, reports RTE.
Financial and other incentives are already in place.
Expected to be swiftly approved by both Mr. Putin and the upper house of parliament, the law joins other restrictions on free expression, such as a ban on dissenting accounts of the conflict in Ukraine and content deemed to promote “non-traditional lifestyles” like same-sex relationships or gender fluidity.
Individuals who create “child-free propaganda” might face fines of up to 400,000 roubles (€3,860), authorities twice that amount, and legal companies up to 5 million roubles (€48,000), reports RTE.
In the first half of 2024, Russia had 599,600 births, the fewest since 1999 and 16,000 less than in the first half of 2023. The death toll increased by 49,000. Immigration, however, increased by 20%.
According to CIA’s World Factbook, Russia is one of the 40 nations with the lowest birth rate in 2023, with an estimated 9.22 births per 1,000 people, just above Germany’s 9.02 but well behind China’s 9.7 and the US’s 12.21.
“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, chairman of the lower house and a senior Putin ally, reports RTE.
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