For a quarter of a century, President Vladimir Putin Russia is facing concerns about its declining and aging population.
One year before that, in 1999 he took power, The number of babies born in Russia has fallen to the lowest level on record. In 2005, President Putin said that demographic problems needed to be solved by maintaining “social and economic stability.”
In 2019, the issue still “haunts” the country, he said.
Just Thursday, he told a Kremlin demographic conference that increasing births is “very important” for Russia.
President Putin has launched initiatives to encourage people to have more children, from free school meals for large families to awarding Soviet-style “Heroic Mother” medals to women with 10 or more children.
“Many of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers had seven, eight or more children. Let’s preserve and revive these wonderful traditions. Having many children and large families must become the norm,” Putin said in 2023.
The number of births in Russia initially increased with economic prosperity, from 1.21 million babies born in 1999 to 1.94 million in 2015.
However, these hard-won gains are crumbling against a backdrop of financial instability. ukraine war, Opposition to youth exodus and immigration.
According to the Russian Federal Statistical Service, Russia’s population has declined from 147.6 million in 1990, the year before the collapse of the Soviet Union, to 146.1 million this year. The data includes Crimea’s roughly 2 million population and births and deaths there since its illegal annexation in 2014.
The population is also aging considerably. In 1990, 21.1% were over 55 years old, according to government data. In 2024, that number was 30%.
Since the peak in 2015, the number of births has been decreasing year by year, and deaths now exceed births. There were just 1.22 million births last year, slightly above the 1999 low. Demographer Alexei Raksha reported that the number of babies born in Russia in February 2025 was the lowest monthly figure in more than two centuries.
Russia is trying new regulations to stop backtracking and embrace what it calls “traditional family values” in law Prohibit promotion of abortion and “childless ideology.” Outlaw all LGBTQ+ activities.
Russian feminist scholar Sasha Taravar said authorities believe these values are a “magic wand” to solve the population problem.
In the government’s view, women may be economically independent, but “in the name of patriotism and Russian power, they should be willing and very excited to undertake this additional reproductive activity,” she said.
A history of harsh demographics
In Russia, as in many Western countries, a decline in births is usually associated with economic turmoil. Young couples living in small apartments are usually not confident that they can afford to raise a child because they are unable to afford a home or are worried about their jobs.
However, Russia has a difficult demographic history.
Approximately 27 million Soviet citizens died in World War IIthe male population declines dramatically.
Just as the country began to recover, the Soviet Union collapsed and births declined again.
Jenny Mathers from Aberystwyth University in Wales said the number of Russian women in their 20s and early 30s is small and authorities are “desperate to get as many babies as possible out of this much smaller number of women”.
Russia has not said how many soldiers have been killed in Ukraine, but Western estimates put the death toll in the hundreds of thousands. When the war started Many young Russians moved abroad — Ideological reasons such as escaping opposition oppression; to avoid military service.
“When the population of potential mothers decreases, the population of potential fathers also decreases significantly,” Mathers says. This is especially problematic for President Putin, who has long linked population to national security, she said.
Family-friendly initiatives are also popular, such as cash vouchers for parents that can be used towards pensions, education and subsidized mortgages.
Some are controversial, such as paying pregnant teens a lump sum of about $1,200 in some areas. Officials say these are aimed at supporting vulnerable mothers, but critics say they encourage such pregnancies.
Still other programs appear to be mostly symbolic. Starting in 2022, Russia will have national holidays such as Family, Love and Loyalty Day in July and Pregnant Women’s Day, which will be celebrated on April 7th and October 7th.
Last year, Russia’s fertility rate (the average number of children born per woman) was 1.4, state media reported. This is well below the population replacement rate of 2.1 and slightly lower than the U.S. figure of 1.6 published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
discourage abortion
Some regions have enacted laws that make it illegal to “encourage abortion,” but it will be prohibited by national law in 2024. Promoting “propaganda without children”. Although the wording of such initiatives is often vague and open to interpretation, the change was enough to prompt the producers of the hit reality TV show “Pregnant at 16” to change the name of the show to “16 Year Old Mommy.”
For many women, this move makes an already delicate conversation even more awkward. A 29-year-old woman who has decided not to have children told The Associated Press that she sees a gynecologist at a private clinic in Moscow rather than a state-run clinic to avoid intrusive questions.
“They never ask me if I’m going to have children or not,” she said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions. At state-run clinics, it’s a “totally different story,” she said.
ever-increasing number of laws restrict access to abortion. Although the procedure remains legal and widely available, more private clinics no longer offer abortion services. The new law also restricts the sale of abortion-inducing drugs, and the move also affects some emergency contraceptives.
Women are encouraged to go to state clinics, where wait times can be long and some facilities may refuse abortions on certain days. By the time patients complete mandatory counseling and a mandatory waiting period of 48 hours to a week, they risk exceeding the legal deadline for an abortion.
While abortions have steadily declined under these laws, experts say the number of abortions performed was already declining. Still, there has been no commensurate increase in births, and activists believe that restricting abortion will only harm the health of women and children.
“The only thing you get from this is illegal abortions. That means more deaths. It means more children dying and more women dying,” says Russian journalist and feminist activist Zarina Marchenkulova.
She considers the new government’s restrictions to be repression for the sake of repression. “They exist solely to prohibit and block voices calling for freedom,” she told The Associated Press.
curbing immigration
Russia could increase its population by accepting more immigrants, but the Kremlin is unlikely to do so.
Russian officials recently stir up anti-immigrant sentimenttracking their movements, strangling their employment and hindering their children’s right to education. Central Asians who previously came to Russia for work are now looking elsewhere, hoping to avoid growing discrimination and economic insecurity.
As the war in Ukraine continues, Moscow can promise economic rewards to would-be parents, but not the stability needed to bet on the future.
Mathers said it’s not the time to have children when people aren’t confident about their future, adding: “Endless, massive wars don’t really encourage people to think positively about the future.”
A 29-year-old woman who has chosen not to have children agrees.
“The happiest and healthiest children only come from families with healthy and happy parents,” she said.
