Maxim Topilin, the minister of labor and social protection of the Russian Federation, believes that Russia will become the leader in births per woman in Europe. What makes him give such an ambitious prognosis?
Russian professor of medicine and gynecologist Viktor Radzinski has his own opinion on this matter.
Can Russia become the leader in births per woman in Europe?
As we have mentioned before, Russia’s population is expected to decrease significantly in the 2020s. The current baby boom is pretty much the result of the high rate of births in the 1980s. But in 1990s few babies were born. Thus, Russia will face a sharp drop in the number of childbirths per year soon.
However, Maxim Topilin sounds rather optimistic. According to the minister, the current fertility rate of Russian females is about 1.83 children per woman and it is expected to rise to 1.9. Among European countries only France achieved such results (2.0 in 2014).
The state government plans to take some additional measures to keep the number of births at a high level and motivate women to have more kids.
However, local doctors are skeptical. They predict a decline in the birth rates in Russia, Lenta.ru reports.
Professor of medicine Viktor Radzinski states that the reproductive behavior in the country is changing.
According to Radzinski:
- 5% of men in Russia do not have sex at all.
- 25% of males have sex once in a month and less (even once in 5 months).
- The quality of male sperm is also dropping. The number spermatozoa per milliliter of semen should be around 80 million but it is 16 million today.
- The number of infertile couples is growing and reached 17%.
- Today’s Russian females face more procreative problems than they used to decades ago.
- More women tend to postpone pregnancy until later in life.
What should happen to change the trend?
Radzinski explains that the number of births per woman should increase to 2.15 to avoid a demographic crisis. But it seems to be highly improbable under such circumstances. How can it happen with fewer potential mothers who postpone pregnancies? In addition, the economic situation in the country remains quite tough.
Thus, it’s quite hard to find any reasonable grounds to believe the words of Maxim Topilin. With all the efforts, decline in population for Russia seems inevitable.
Viktor Radzinski believes Russia’s leadership in Europe in births per woman is unlikely to occur soon.
Read also:
- Shortage of Russian Men Fuels Demographic Migration
- Children of Older Mothers Are Healthier, Taller, Better Educated
- Russia Will Keep Paying Parents to Have More Kids
- Women to men ratio, gender breakdown in Russia
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All over the world men are looking for Russian girls to marry them. Maybe it’s because of the myth that they are good housewives, or because of their beauty. Anyway, as more women leave Russia seeking a better life, fewer women will remain to give birth to kids.
Anna, the number of women that leave Russia to marry foreigners is inconsequential for Russia’s demographic problem. There are less than 2-3 thousand women that marry foreigners every year and 880 thousand medical abortions in the country during the same period.
All this reminds me of the current question in Russia: to prohibit abortions or not? Making abortions out of law is not the best way of increasing a demographic rate! Potential parents should be motivated by special programs and campaigns focused on supporting young families!
I consider that Russia will not become the leader, because of many factors: non-stable economic situation, lack of accommodation among young couples etc.
Nowadays its becoming more popular to have no child at all, people want to enjoy their own interests. The institution of marriage is breaking down. Men don’t want to be responsible for kids and women don’t want to raise babies alone. Only a miracle can save the situation.