Russia Looks Into Demographic Abyss
By: Administrative Account | Source: CNSNews.com
May 12, 2006 7:46AM EST

By Sergei Blagov
CNSNews.com Correspondent
May 12, 2006

Moscow (CNSNews.com) - In an effort to tackle his country's demographic crisis, Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered financial incentives for Russians to have more children.

Noting that the population was shrinking by 700,000 people every year, he said the problem "cannot be resolved without a change in the attitude of our society towards the issue of family and family values."

Failure to deal with the crisis, Putin said, would undermine Russia's economic and social development goals.

The state would provide an incentive of 250,000 rubles ($9,232) to women who give birth to a second child.

"It must provide her with, so to speak, a start-up base, motherhood capital that would raise her social status and help solve future problems," he said.

The benefit would not be paid in cash but in vouchers that could spent on accommodation, children's education, or their own pension once a child has turned three.

In addition, the government would pay families with one child $55 a month, doubling the amount for a second child. The aim is to make it easier for working women to spend more time with their children.

The campaign, which is supposed to take effect in 2007, is expected to last at least 10 years.

Russian officials worry about the security repercussions of the situation.

"The demographic problem adversely affects the armed forces," Russian armed forces General Yury Baluyevskiy said. "This is not just about a population plunge, this is also about fewer conscripts available."

Putin plans to open up immigration policy to make it easier for Russians living abroad to return home.

He also hopes to improve increase life expectancy rates, by tackling premature deaths related to alcoholism, car accidents and heart disease.

The new initiative comes after Putin referred to demographic challenges in previous state of the nation speeches.

"When Putin spoke about it in the course of his first state of the nation address in 2000, the population was shrinking by 340,000 people a year. Now the figure more than doubled," said Viktor Ilyukhin, member of the State Duma's security committee.

"The question is: Putin, you are right in what you say, you are the president, you have limitless power, but what have you done after the first state of the nation address?" he asked.

Russia's population has shrunk from 150 million in the early 1990s to just over 140 million today. Only during 1930s did the population fall as fast during peacetime.

A 1937 census revealed that the Soviet population stood at around 162 million, about eight million fewer than projected. This was attributed to forced land reform through collectivization, political reprisals and executions.

Dictator Josef Stalin disapproved of the census results and ordered the organizers arrested and executed. Two years later, the country conducted another census, the shortfall was "corrected," with census officials telling Stalin the figure was 170 million.

Declassified in the 1990s, the 1939 census results showed the population to have indeed been around 162 million.

The current population plunge has been blamed not only on falling birthrates, but also on the effects of alcoholism and a deteriorating health-care system.

The suicide rate in Russia has also almost doubled since 1990, with nearly 60,000 Russians taking their own lives every year. The suicide rate among Russians is nearly 40 per 100,000 people, about twice the world average.

According to official estimates, unless the situation changes, the Russian population will drop to 80 million by 2050.

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