In a desperate bid to boost Russia’s falling birth rate, authorities are offering school-age girls in the western region of Oryol a one-time payment of 100,000 rubles, almost Rs 1 lakh, if they have children.
The move came after massive military losses in Ukraine, where reportedly 250,000 Russian soldiers have lost their lives.
The policy, announced by Oryol’s regional governor, Andrei Klychkov, expanded an existing scheme that provides financial incentives to university students who become mothers. Under the new rules, girls in “full-time education” at schools, vocational colleges, and universities in the region will now also qualify for the payout.
A decree amending the policy was published on the Oryol government’s website last week, confirming that the payments will be available from 2025 to 2027. The announcement quickly sparked backlash after independent media outlet 7×7 Horizontal Russia highlighted the change on Telegram.
Facing criticism, Klychkov accused the press of sensationalising his announcement and insisted he was simply following Kremlin orders.
“Unfortunately, journalists did not specify that there is an order of the ministry of labor of Russia dated February 11, 2025, ‘On approval of methodological recommendations for the implementations for the implementation of measures of regional programs to increase the birth rate, subject to co-financing from the federal budget,” he wrote on Telegram.
The governor also claimed that no school-age girls in the region currently qualify for the payments and defended the policy as a form of support for young mothers rather than an attempt to encourage teenage pregnancy.
“Young girls in such a situation often make controversial decisions,” Klychkov said. “Our task, since this has already happened, is to support them, to help save the life of the child and the health of the mother.”
He further urged the public to see the measure as “another form of social support” rather than a shocking headline, New York Post reported.
Russia is facing a demographic crisis, with a birth rate of just 1.42 children per woman and soaring mortality rates, according to the World Bank.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has also been pushing for larger families, urging women to have at least three children and branding “child-free” lifestyles as an “extremist ideology.”
The war in Ukraine has further exacerbated the crisis, with Britain’s ministry of defence estimating last week that Russia has suffered around 900,000 casualties since the invasion began in February 2022, including a quarter of a million deaths.