Many Predominantly Ethnic Regions and Two Heavily Ethnic Russian Non-Russian Republics Prepare to Subsidize Teenagers who Get Pregnant

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Sept. 1 – In order to boost the birthrate, numerous predominantly ethnic Russian oblasts and krays and two non-Russian republics with sizeable ethnic Russian components of their population have announced plans to subsidize teenagers who get pregnant and carry their babies to term.

            The NeMoskva portal provides data about the amounts, which vary depending on the cost of living in these federal subjects, for nine ethnic Russian oblasts and krays and two non-Russian republics – Bashkortostan and Tatarstan -- which have sizeable ethnic Russian communities (nemoskva.net/2025/09/01/regiony-nachali-sostavlyat-plan-po-beremennym-shkolniczam-i-studentkam/).

            The leaders of these federal subjects feel compelled to do so because the Kremlin has announced that it will evaluate governors on how much they boost birthrates, even though many oppose programs because they will boost the spread of STDs and lead to a growth in the number of orphans as these young mothers give up their children (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2025/04/rf-regions-promoting-teenage.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2025/06/opposition-to-subsidizing-teenage.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2025/08/moscows-promotion-of-teenage.html).

            Moscow clearly hopes supporting teenage pregnancy will not only boost overall birthrates but especially those of ethnic Russians who have one of the lowest of any ethnic group in that country. But even in predominantly ethnic Russian regions, increases in births as a result of this program are likely to be more common among non-Russians than among Russians.