Putin’s Attacks on the Internet Likely to Depress Russia’s Fertility Rate Still Further, Studies Suggest

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Mar. 19 – Russians who have high-speed internet access at home and thus are able to work at least part of the time there have significantly higher fertility rates than do those without such access or the willingness of employers to allow them to work at home, the To Be Precise portal reports on the basis of demographic research.

            What this means, of course, is that Putin’s attack on the internet and thus on among other things the ability of many to work at home is going to lead to lower birthrates, exactly the reverse of what he seeks (tochno.st/materials/rozdaemost-u-par-rabotaiushhix-na-udalenke-na-14-vyse-ostalnyx-k-takomu-vyvodu-prisla-mezdunarodnaia-gruppa-ucenyx).

            The portal draws these conclusions on the basis both of recent international research and on a 2020 Moscow State University study which made this link between internet access and fertility rates in Russia abundantly clear (cyberleninka.ru/article/n/vliyanie-vysokoskorostnogo-interneta-na-reproduktivnoe-povedenie-v-rossii/viewer).