Putin Regime has Taken Steps to Boost Birthrate but Very Little to Help Families after Children are Born, Russian Expert Says

Paul Goble
    Staunton,, Nov. 27 – A Russian demographer speaking anonymously says that the Putin regime has taken a variety of steps to boost the birthrate, including its latest moves to rate governors on the basis of how much they do, but at the same time, Moscow has done very little to help families after the children are born.
    As a result, the demographer says, Russians can see that having a child may bring them one-time payments but put additional financial burdens on them over the longer term – and so decide not to have children in the first place despite the bonuses the Putin regime is urging (verstka.media/kak-regiony-budut-povyshat-rozhdayemost-po-trebovaniyu-kremlya).
    That situation is compounded, he and others say, by the fact that many regions lack the money to provide birth bonuses – only seven have done so up to now – and Moscow’s promised assistance has yet to come through. As a result, many governors are reviving Soviet propaganda methods like the celebration of “hero mothers” to try to boost the birthrate and save their jobs.
    Those methods are unlikely to boost the birthrate or save the jobs of the governors involved. Only a massive commitment to improve the lives of families over long periods of time could do that, and Putin has neither the money nor the interest in doing that. Instead, he will continue to spend on his wars and face ever greater problems in finding enough soldiers.