Sep 18, 2024 10:18 AM IST
Vladimir Putin launched an initiative to combat Russia’s declining birth rate, encouraging employees to have sex during breaks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced a new initiative to address Russia’s declining birth rate encouraging citizens to have sex during work breaks, Metro.co.uk reported. This comes as country’s fertility rate is currently at 1.5 children per woman which is below the 2.1 rate needed for population stability.
Vladimir Putin said, “The preservation of the Russian people is our highest national priority. The fate of Russia…depends on how many of us there will be. It is a question of national importance.”
Russian member of parliament Tatyana Butskaya presented a strategy to monitor and promote childbirth among employees, saying, “Each employer should look at their workplace: What is your birth rate? Do all of you who are capable of bearing children have one more child this year?”
The initiative comes amid population decline which has been exacerbated by the emigration of over one million younger citizens due to Moscow’s ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Russia’s health minister Dr. Yevgeny Shestopalov said that busy work schedules should not be a deterrent for sex as “you can have children during breaks.”
Moscow has also brought other measures to boost birth rates as women are being offered free fertility checks, employers are tracking and reporting employees’ birth rates to increase yearly births, women are being offered financial incentives for their first child and access to abortions is being restricted. These measures have been taken by various regions in Russia.