Russia’s population is shrinking rapidly. Putin is trying to put a stop to that

President Vladimir Putin has been grappling with Russia’s shrinking and aging population for a quarter-century.

The demographic crisis predates his coming to power; the country recorded its lowest birth rate in 1999, a year before he took office.

In 2005, Mr. Putin acknowledged the problem, stating that these demographic challenges required maintaining “social and economic stability.” He reiterated his concern in 2019 and acknowledged that the issue still “plagued” the country.

He last spoke at the Kremlin demographic conference on Thursday, emphasizing that increasing births is “very important” for Russia’s future.

To combat this trend, Putin has undertaken various initiatives, from providing free school meals to large families to reintroducing Soviet-era “hero-mother” medals to women who have given birth to 10 or more children.

“Many of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers had seven, eight or even more children,” Putin said in 2023. “Let’s preserve and revive these wonderful traditions. Having many children and having a large family should become the norm.”

At first, births in Russia increased with economic prosperity; It increased from 1.21 million babies born in 1999 to 1.94 million in 2015.

But these hard-won gains are collapsing due to financial uncertainty and war in the United States. UkrainianImmigration of young men and opposition to immigration.

Russia’s population fell from 147.6 million in 1990, the year before the collapse of the USSR, to 146.1 million this year, according to Russia’s Federal Statistics Service. Since illegal annexation in 2014 CrimeaIn addition to the population of approximately 2 million of the peninsula, it also included births and deaths here in its data.

The population is also significantly older. In 1990, 21.1 percent were 55 or older, according to government data. In 2024, this figure was 30 percent.

The number of births has fallen each year since the peak in 2015, with deaths now outpacing births. Last year alone there were 1.22 million live births; This number is only 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 restrictions to stem the tide and embrace what it calls “traditional family values” with laws banning the promotion of abortion and “childless ideology” and banning all LGBTQ+ activism.

Russian feminist academic Sasha Talaver said authorities believed such values ​​were a “magic wand” to solve demographic problems.

In the government’s view, women can be financially independent, but they must be “very excited and willing to take on this additional reproductive work in the name of patriotism and the power of Russia,” he said.

In Russia, as in much of the West, declining births are often linked to economic turmoil. Living in cramped apartments, unable to buy their own home, or fearful for their jobs, young couples often lack the confidence to raise children.

But Russia has a difficult demographic history.

About 27 million soviet The deaths of citizens in World War II significantly reduced the male population.

While the country began to recover, the Soviet Union collapsed and births declined again.

Jenny Mathers of Aberystwyth University in Wales said the number of Russian women in their 20s and early 30s was small and authorities were “desperate to have as many babies as possible from a much smaller number of women.”

Russia did not disclose how many soldiers were killed UkrainianWestern estimates put the death toll in the hundreds of thousands. When the war began, many young Russians moved abroad; some for ideological reasons, such as escaping crackdowns on dissidents or avoiding military service.

“In a pool of fewer potential mothers, you have a pool of much fewer potential fathers,” Mathers said. This, he said, is a particular problem for Putin, who has long linked population and national security.

Some family-friendly initiatives are popular, such as cash certificates for parents’ retirement, education or subsidized mortgages.

Others, such as one-time payments of about $1,200 for pregnant teens in some areas, are controversial. Authorities say they are intended to support vulnerable mothers, but critics say they encourage such pregnancies.

Still other programs seem mostly symbolic. Since 2022, Russia has held public holidays, such as the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity in July, and Pregnant Women’s Day, celebrated on April 7 and October 7.

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 replacement rate of 2.1 for the population and slightly lower than the 1.6 figure announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States.

Some regions have laws making it illegal to “promote abortion”, while national legislation in 2024 banned the promotion of “childless propaganda”. The wording in such initiatives is often vague, leaving them open to interpretation; however, this change was enough to lead the producers of the reality show “16 and Pregnant” to change the show’s name to “16 Year Old Mom.”

For many women, these measures make already sensitive conversations even more fraught. The 29-year-old woman, who decided not to have children, told The Associated Press that she saw a gynecologist in a private practice. Moscow To avoid intrusive questions, go to a clinic rather than a public clinic.

“Whether I’m planning to have children, whether I’m planning to have children, I’m never asked about that,” she said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions. He said it was a “totally different story” at state-run clinics.

A growing number of laws limit access to abortion. Although the procedure remains legal and widely available, many private clinics no longer offer abortion services. The new legislation also restricted the sale of abortion-inducing pills; This move also affects some emergency contraceptives.

Women are encouraged to go to public clinics, where wait times are longer and some clinics refuse to perform abortions on certain days. After patients complete mandatory counseling and mandatory waiting periods of 48 hours to a week, they face the risk of exceeding the time limit for legal abortion.

Abortions have steadily decreased under these laws, although experts say the number of procedures is already falling. Yet there has been no corresponding increase in births, and activists believe restricting abortion will only harm the health of women and children.

“The only result you will get from this will be illegal abortion. This means more deaths: more child deaths and more women’s deaths,” says Russian journalist and feminist activist Zalina Marshenkulova.

He sees the new government’s restrictions as oppression for oppression’s sake. “They’re just there to ban, to block any voice of freedom,” he told the AP.

Russia can increase its population by allowing more immigrants. Kremlin It is unlikely to be adopted.

Russian authorities have recently fueled anti-immigrant sentiment, tracking the movements of migrants, imposing restrictions on their employment and denying their children their right to education. Central Asians who traditionally travel to Russia for business are looking elsewhere, hoping to avoid increasing discrimination and economic uncertainty.

As the war in Ukraine continues, Moscow may promise financial rewards to prospective parents, but it cannot provide the stability needed to gamble on the future.

Mathers said it’s not the time to have children if people have no confidence in the future, adding: “A big open-ended war doesn’t really encourage people to think positively about the future.”

The 29-year-old woman, who prefers not to have children, agrees.

“The happiest and healthiest child is born only in a family with healthy, happy parents,” he said.