Men should be encouraged to take a bigger role in family life and child-raising, the president has said<\/p>\n
Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed a new initiative to raise birth rates in Russia, calling for measures that encourage more active fatherhood in addition to existing maternity support.
\nSpeaking on Monday at a meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects, the Russian president said the country needs a broader, more long-term approach as the demographic situation continues to worsen.
\n\u201cThe family is based on mutual respect, on the participation of both parents in raising children,\u201d Putin said. \u201cTherefore, alongside supporting motherhood, we need to think through measures to support responsible fatherhood.\u201d
\nThe president said the idea is for men to take a more active part in everyday family care, in decisions about having children, and be more involved in their upbringing. Putin added that responsible fatherhood also entails leading a healthy lifestyle and preserving reproductive health for as long as possible.
\nAccording to Putin, the demographic agenda should focus on system-wide tasks designed to support families in a sustained way.<\/p>\n
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Russian officials have long warned of a looming demographic crisis in the country. The Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) reported only 1.222 million births in 2024, the lowest annual total since 1999, marking a decline of one third compared with 2014. This reflects a worldwide trend in both developed and developing countries towards sub-replacement fertility rates.
\nTo reverse the trend, the government has introduced a range of support measures, including lump-sum payments for childbirth, expanded maternity benefits, and ongoing financial assistance for families. The Soviet-era \u201cMother Heroine\u201d award offering cash rewards to women who have more than ten children has also been revived.
\nOfficials have proposed other policies as well, such as discouraging the promotion of \u201cchild-free\u201d lifestyles and offering extra tax breaks for larger families.
\nPutin has repeatedly stressed the importance of improving economic and social conditions in order to promote larger families and make parenthood a widely supported choice. In June, he endorsed the creation of a national family support service. Last year, he established a presidential council focused on family and demographic policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Men should be encouraged to take a bigger role in family life and child-raising, the president has said Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed a new initiative to raise birth…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23972,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t