The Oriol region of Russia has become the first in the country to offer financial incentives to high school girls who give birth. Governor Andrei Klicikov has signed a decree granting financial support to school-aged girls in order to help them keep their children, according to The Moscow Times. .
According to local news, this measure is part of a larger program already implemented in 40 regions of Russia, offering students at least 100,000 rubles (approximately $1,200) to encourage childbirth. Last week, Klicikov expanded the program to include teenage girls still in school.
Criticized for this decision, the governor responded by stating that he is not the only one implementing such policies.
“As for my personal position on this policy, it is important to recognize that young women in such situations often face difficult decisions,” he explained on Telegram. “Our responsibility, given the circumstances, is to provide support – helping them preserve the child’s life and protect the mother’s health.”
This initiative comes in the context of an alarming decline in Russia’s birth rate, a problem exacerbated by the war in Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly insisted that families with three or more children should become the “norm”. Meanwhile, authorities have taken measures that restrict reproductive rights, including making it a crime to promote a “child-free” lifestyle and limiting access to abortion.
Currently, Russia has the lowest birth rate in the last 25 years, and the Oriol region is particularly affected by this demographic crisis, ranking as the 23rd least populous region in the country with less than 700,000 inhabitants.