Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin recently urged his countrymen to have more babies! As Russia wants to increase its population, the President made a special request to women in this regard. President Putin requested every young lady to give birth to at least eight children, stressing that he wanted to make having more babies the normal practice or norm in Russia. Putin made the appeal to women while addressing the Russian People’s Council in Moscow in the last week of November 2023. On the occasion, the President said he wanted to ensure that the Russian families be bigger.

In this context, Putin reminded women of the past, saying that the Russian women used to give birth to seven-eight children a few generations ago. According to the President, a number of generations used to live together in a family. Meanwhile, he admitted that one of the reasons for having seven-eight babies was the lack of proper medical facilities in the past. Hence, the infant mortality, then, was quite high. Later, the mortality rate of infants decreased with the improvement in medical science. As a result, people started having a smaller number of children worldwide.

Having fewer children has allowed parents to spend more on their kids’ education. As a result, many countries have developed a rich educated society where the younger generations earn a handsome amount of money. There is a negative side of this social system, too. Although earnings have increased, the number of people who enjoy the properties and money is constantly decreasing. President Putin is worried about this. The birth rate has been falling in Russia since the 1990s. Moreover, 0.3 million Russians have perished since the beginning of the Ukraine War on February 24, 2022. Also, many have fled the country. The strength of the workforce has also decreased in Russia because of the decline in its population. The scenario disrupts production, slowing down the economy. The Western sanctions over the Ukraine War have exacerbated Russia’s woes. The situation has prompted President Putin to announce a reward for women for giving birth to more babies. He declared that the Russian women, who would give birth to 10 or more children and take good care of them, would receive USD 16,000 from the Government.

It may be noted that Chinese President Xi Jinping and some other foreign leaders had made similar announcements before Putin. These leaders have decided to boost the birth rate in an attempt to make their countries stronger. China introduced the Three-Child Policy a few years ago, with the Xi Administration requesting young couples to have a minimum of three babies. Even South Korea has adopted a similar policy. Seoul has announced rewards for women for having more babies. The Government of Japan has also encouraged common people to have more than two babies, announcing that couples shall get extra parental leave for having more babies. Interestingly, abortion is not at all an easy affair in these countries.

Adolf Hitler had also appealed to the German women to give birth to more babies in the 20th Century. The Führer used to encourage women to have more children in various ways. The dictator had a weakness for white-skinned blue-eyed babies, as he used to believe that young men with such characteristics would excel in warfare, apart from maintaining purity of the race.

Although Developed countries are trying to increase their population by giving birth to more children, this policy is not applicable for Developing nations. In the past, countries, like China, Russia, Japan and Germany, reached advanced levels by reducing their population. They also increased earnings of the people by upgrading the education system and by creating job opportunities. Developing nations are yet to reach that stage of development.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das