Russia Could Pay Students Who Have a Child, Amid Birth Rate Crisis

Russia is considering starting a new government ministry and would pay female students to have a child in order to combat the countrywide birth rate crisis, according to Indian newspaper The Economic Times.

The Russian government is looking at opening a “ministry of sex,” in addition to paying female students between the ages of 18 and 23 in some regions, including Khabarovsk, £900 (about $1,160) to have one child, the report said.

If implemented January 1, 2025, the new measures will aim to reverse the rapidly declining birth rate, which has been attributed to deaths in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Newsweek reached out to Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment via email.

In September, Russia recorded its lowest birth rate in 25 years in the first six months of 2024, with the number of infant deliveries dropping below 100,000.

The current Russian birth rate is 1.5 children per woman, compared with 1.8 per woman in the U.S. A birth rate of 2.1 is needed to sustain a population.

The compensation for having a child differs in various Russian regions, with the payment for giving birth to one child as high as £8,500 (nearly $11,000) for a firstborn in the city of Chelyabinsk.

In the Karelia region, female students will be paid $1,100 in exchange for giving birth to a healthy baby, according to a Moscow Times report in July.

There is a caveat to the payments, as the government will not pay female students for stillbirths. The policy also says that the mother-to-be must be a full-time student at a local university or college and under 25 years old.

The Russian government has discussed and implemented numerous incentives in order to convince the population to have more children. Moscow has even proposed to use public funds to pay for newlywed couples’ wedding-night hotel stays, for up to 26,300 rubles (around $275), to promote pregnancies.

In addition to paying female students to have children, the Russian government has worked to increase the number of children born by encouraging women to conceive at work, particularly during breaks.

A regional health minister, Yevgeny Shestopalov, said on Russian TV that women should “engage in procreation on breaks.”

He added, “Being very busy at work is not a valid reason but a lame excuse. You can engage in procreation during breaks, because life flies by too quickly.”

Last year, Russian Duma member Valery Seleznyov pushed for female prisoners to be released to have children in order to increase the country’s birth rate. The remainder of their sentences would be canceled for doing so.

In 2022, President Vladimir Putin reintroduced the 20th-century “Mother Heroine” award, which awards women who have 10 or more children and includes a title, as well as a one-off payment of 1 million rubles (about $10,000).

Moscow has also proposed new legislation that would prosecute those deemed to be promoting a “child-free” lifestyle, as part of the Kremlin’s plan to “ban everything that does not fit into its so-called traditional values.”

The bill includes a range of fines to be imposed on those convicted of promoting “child-free lifestyles” and up to 400,000 rubles ($4,300) for people convicted of pushing “child-free” propaganda, 800,000 rubles ($8,602) for state officials and 5 million rubles ($53,763) for companies.

The Russian government has also implemented methods to restrict access to abortion. They include passing laws in two regions that punish individuals found to “coerce” women into having abortions, limiting the number of abortions performed and approving legislation restricting access to abortion drugs, according to Al Jazeera.

Putin spoke about women’s roles in Russian society at the Eurasia Women’s Forum in September. “Russia is traditionally respectful of women. In this regard, our state policy relies on the National Strategy of Action in the Interests of Women,” he said.

He continued, “Several initiatives have been put forward toward this end, and proper conditions are being created for women to succeed professionally while remaining guardians of the hearth and lynchpins of large families with many children.”

Russian manpower losses in the war in Ukraine have reached 710,660, with the highest loss of soldiers in one day at 1,770.

Other nations around the world have considered paying citizens to have children in order to combat falling birth rates, including South Korea, Japan and China.