published17. August 2022, 20:36
Declining birth rateRussian women who give birth to 10 children get 1 million rubles
Vladimir Putin has reintroduced the title “mother heroine”. The award goes to mothers who have ten or more children. The measure is intended to prevent a demographic collapse.
The women receive a one-off payment of one million rubles (equivalent to CHF 15,200) plus a medal with the flag and coat of arms of the Russian Federation. (Pictured: A 1944 award.)
Wikipedia/Public Domain
With this measure, the Kremlin now wants to fight against a demographic crisis caused by falling birth rates.
IMAGO/Russian Look
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Vladimir Putin has reintroduced a Soviet-era award.
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Russian women should be encouraged to have more children.
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The government in Moscow is trying to cope with the sharp decline in the country’s population.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has revived a Soviet-era award: Every woman who has given birth to and raised ten or more children is to receive a one-off payment of one million rubles (equivalent to CHF 15,200). With this measure, the Kremlin now wants to fight against a demographic crisis caused by falling birth rates.
On Monday, Putin signed a decree granting the honorary title of “mother heroine”, introduced by Soviet leader Josef Stalin in 1944. At that time, the Soviet dictator’s population policy was intended to solve the problem of declining population numbers caused by the First and Second World Wars and the famine of the 1930s. The title was no longer awarded after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Mothers receive a medal and coat of arms
The title “mother heroine” is on the same status level as high-ranking state orders such as “Hero of Russia” and “Hero of Labour”, reports the Russian portal “Moscow Times». The “heroines” also received medals with the flag and coat of arms of the Russian Federation.
The decree states that mothers should be entitled to the title even if they have lost one of their children in combat, in a terrorist attack or in an emergency situation.
Thousands of young Russians die on Ukrainian battlefields
Shrinking population growth has been a major concern of the Kremlin for decades: Russia’s population has been falling almost constantly, with the pandemic almost tripling the rate of population decline in 2020. At the beginning of the year, the population fell again sharply by around 400,000 people to 145.1 million. It is estimated that the population could fall by another 10 percent by 2050.
The war in Ukraine has only exacerbated the problem. Between January and June, around 380,000 Russian citizens fled the country and thousands of men – with an average age of 21 – died on Ukrainian battlefields.