Why Russia wants to bring in a law banning ‘propaganda’ about not having children

What is the law?

According to Russian authorities quality bureau TASS, the instrumentality would people accusation “promoting voluntary childlessness online, done the media, movies and advertisements.” Vyacheslav Volodin, Speaker of the little house, said, “It is important to support people, chiefly the younger generation, from having the ideology of childlessness imposed connected them”. However, helium added that the instrumentality would not interaction women who determine not to person children.

On September 17, the first speechmaking of the law projected beardown sanctions connected anyone spreading “propaganda” against having children. Individuals could beryllium fined up to 400,000 rubles ($4,100) for spreading propaganda. Additionally, it would people overseas nationals “who beforehand the child-free movement” done fines of up to 100,000 rubles ($1,000) and they could adjacent hazard deportation.

The State Duma oregon the little location of parliament approved the 3rd of 3 required readings of the projected legislation. It volition present beryllium reviewed successful the precocious location of parliament, the Federation Council, and beryllium ratified by Putin.

What explains the propulsion towards “traditional values”?

The instrumentality against child-free propaganda is portion of a larger propulsion by the Russian authorities against “destructive ideologies” the Kremlin claims are imported from the West. TASS described it arsenic “in enactment with the punishment for promoting non-traditional intersexual relations and sex reassignment.”

According to The Washington Post, these ideas are besides linked to the policies of Putin, who has progressively consolidated powerfulness successful Russia since 2000. “His policies are being driven not lone by economical interests but by his effort to forge a puritanical, militarized nine built connected nationalism and Orthodox Christianity — locked successful a civilizational struggle with the West,” it said.

So far, the Russian authorities has identified feminists, LGBTQ+ activists and autarkic journalists arsenic overseas agents, extremists oregon terrorists who person been thrown successful jailhouse oregon forced to fly the country. Access to termination is being progressively curtailed, portion Russian ministers person reportedly appealed to women to commencement families astatine the property of 18 alternatively of seeking higher education.

Putin has said connected aggregate occasions that Russia’s demographic situation “haunts” him and has referred to it arsenic a captious nationalist information occupation successful the backdrop of Russia’s warfare with Ukraine.

Russia’s looming demographic crisis

Citing authoritative data, Reuters reported that successful the archetypal fractional of 2024, the fig of children calved successful Russia was 599,600 — the lowest fig since 1999. In June, the state recorded a 6% driblet successful the fig of unrecorded births astatine 98,600, the archetypal clip the fig fell beneath 100,000.

Russia’s colonisation diminution accelerated by 18% this year, signaling 325,100 deaths successful the archetypal six months. This was 49,000 much than the aforesaid play past twelvemonth and attributed to the frontline casualties successful the Ukraine war.

Effectively, the declining commencement complaint and expanding decease complaint volition effect successful a shrinking, ageing population. The astir evident interaction has been connected the labour market. Russia’s subject and civilian industries are competing for the aforesaid shrinking labour pool, starring to little productivity and economical output.

In 2023, Russian Labour Minister Anton Kotyakov noted that the labour shortfall was acutely felt successful the manufacturing, operation and transport sectors, according to a study successful Russia’s Izvestia newspaper. According to the IMF, if contiguous demographic trends continue, the system could diminution by astir 0.5% annually.

However, galore different developed nations specified arsenic China, Japan, South Korea and Italy person faced the aforesaid occupation of debased commencement rates of late. Some issues are country-specific, similar China’s mandatory One Child Policy (from 1980 to 2016). In Russia’s case, an Atlantic Council study cited the “increasingly constricted migration and continuing encephalon drain” arsenic important factors.

In general, commencement rates autumn arsenic countries amended the transportation of basal services and women get educated and tin marque decisions astir their lives. If the outgo of surviving increases, arsenic is successful galore regions with expanding modernisation and urbanisation, child-rearing besides becomes expensive.

Nina Ostanina, who heads the Duma’s Committee for the Protection of Families, told the authorities quality bureau RIA successful September that a “special demographic operation” is needed to amended the commencement rate.