Russian Women: Just One Please
The birthrate in Russia has fallen dramatically since the end of the Soviet era - it was at 2.08 per woman back in 1990 and was at 1.17 by 2004. Some experts feel that a birthrate of 2.4 children in needed to maintain the current population in Russia, so this past spring President Putin raised the amount of child support and offered other financial incentives to encourage Russian women to have more babies.
In addition to a low birthrate, Russia also has one of the highest abortion rates in the world. The reasons some women give include lack of good partners and wanting to give their children a better chance in life - they feel it is easier to do that with fewer children.
The underlying issues are a high death rate in the country for men because of wars, AIDS and alcoholism. That combined with a low birthrate means that there won’t be enough workers to support the economy.
There were mixed reactions to the incentives. Some people feel that offering more financial support will encourage more women, even single Russian women, to have more than one child. Others feel that raising a child takes more than money.
