Women’s personal lives have come under scanner as authorities in Moscow are inspecting them with detailed questionnaires regarding their reproductive health
Nothing comes closer to describing Russia in 2024 than George Orwell’s imagined dystopian society in his book ‘1984’. The Russian government has reduced the citizens as means to its mighty end of winning the war against Ukraine. Amidst the ongoing war, the country today has two major concerns: it has lost a significant population and is witnessing a remarkable decline in the birth rate.
According to government of Ukraine, Russia has lost close to 696,410 troops in the ongoing war as of November 1, 2024. Propelled by the war, many have left the country, especially young men. Troubles mounted for Russia as it recorded its lowest birth rate since 1999 in the first half of 2024. According to data published by Russian statistics service Rosstat, 599,600 children were born in the first six months of this year, which is around 16,000 less than in the same period in 2023.
The government is planning to set up a ministry of sex to deal with the rising mortality and declining birth rate. The head of the Russian Parliament’s committee for the protection of families, Nina Ostanina, said the country needs a “special demographic operation” to increase the birth rate.
“We must organise ourselves and conduct another special operation, just like a special military operation- a special demographic operation,” Ostanina told Russian state-owned news agency RIA.
But the efforts don’t just stop there, the Russian government has blurred the boundaries between public and private when it comes to the state’s population increase policy. The government’s roadmap to increase the birth rate includes financial incentives for mothers, encouraging couples to spend intimate time, monetary support up to 5,000 roubles for first dates and subsidised wedding night hotel stays.
Moreover, Anastasia Rakova, a deputy mayor and staunch supporter of President Vladimir Putin, has plans to take control over Russian women’s reproductive rights. Rakova suggested a particular test that reportedly examines a woman’s fertility level.
Yevgeny Shestopalov, a regional health minister in Russia, proposed how Russians use their coffee and lunch breaks during office for “procreation”. Women’s personal lives have come under scanner as authorities in Moscow are inspecting them with detailed questionnaires regarding their reproductive health.
Earlier in 2020, Putin announced tax breaks for families with at least two children.
Russia’s decreasing population problem dates to the 1990s during the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 2007, the government introduced a 10-year one-off maternity capital payment programme. However, after 2017, the birth rate again started to come down with some families refusing to have even one child.
“President Putin’s whole idea that the birth rate can be corrected solely by money is invalid,” Russian demographer Anatoly Vishnevsky told the BBC.
Some Russians feel discouraged by the ongoing political tensions to have children. Exiled Russian tycoon and founder of the Open Russia movement in a post on X said political discourse in the country has made people hopeless about the future.
“By conducting a criminal social policy- cutting down on the number of schools and hospitals, not creating new jobs, driving young families into mortgage servitude for many years, depriving us of simple confidence in tomorrow- do the authorities really want to increase the birth rate in Russia,” said a Russian on X.