Deputy Chairman of the Human Rights Council Kirkora spoke about the essence of the national projects “Family” and “Long and Active Life”

In his Address to the Federal Assembly today, President Vladimir Putin paid a lot of attention to measures of social support for families. In particular, two most important national projects will be launched in 2024 – “Family” and “Long and Active Life”. “MK” asked the Deputy Chairman of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights (HRC), Director of the Author’s Psychological Center “Family World”, Irina Kirkor, to tell more about them.

“The decisions announced today by the President, in my opinion, will become key and turning points in the country’s demographic policy,” Irina Kirkora noted in an interview with MK. – As you know, we have a big problem with demography: if we take the number of births of children per woman, then this number does not even reproduce two parents – mom and dad, respectively, each subsequent generation will be smaller in number than the previous one. The population of our country, taking into account mortality rates, decreases every year by an average of 500,000 people – and this is several cities. Therefore, these two projects are, in fact, Russian national security projects.

According to Irina Kirkora, these projects should be aimed not only at economic and social measures to support families, but also at creating psychological well-being in the family, so that families are strong and love and harmony reign in them. Such assistance is especially necessary for the participants of the Northern Military District and their families in the context of the return of our defenders from combat operations and the changing reality for them and their relatives and friends.

“In my opinion, we should strive to create a model of behavior when for young people a family with three or more children is not just a profitable story for them, but also a happy story of their self-realization,” continues Kirkora.

For many years we have been busy talking exclusively about the leadership of one person, about personal comfort, about a career… But we need to say with the same attention, and, most importantly, sincerely that family is not only the future of Russia, but it is also happiness , based on equal relations between men and women, on love and mutual respect of all its members.

This requires state support not only for large families, which is being talked about a lot now, but also, and no less important, for young families who may become large families in the future.

– Our young people are now in no hurry to get married, they are postponing having children… This is also a problem.

– Yes, indeed, early marriages have become rare among us, and the early birth of children has become for us synonymous with a “ruined career”, a “ruined life” of a girl. The birth of the first child is increasingly being postponed until later years… Therefore, in my opinion, the main thing that these national projects should be aimed at is creating such “weather in the house” that will make it possible to turn the home into a center of attraction for love, well-being and comfort . And in those families where relationships broke down, people could turn to specialists who would help them find a common language again.

– What is meant by the national project “Long and Active Life”?

– Both the first and second projects are all about demographics. In Russia, the average life expectancy is 73 years. The national project “Long and Active Life” announced by the president is aimed at increasing the average life expectancy of Russians to 78 years by 2030. In the future it is planned to reach the age group of 80+.

And here it is important to understand that alcohol abuse, use of prohibited substances, and smoking are three scourges that provoke pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases, which, accordingly, are the leading causes of death among Russians today. But that’s not all: everyone knows that alcohol abuse leads to a decrease in a person’s instinct of self-preservation, to accidents, accidents, crime, including murder, as a result of which we also lose people. When a person gets sober, he often does not understand, “how could he do this?!”

But prohibitive and restrictive measures alone cannot solve this problem. Also, you cannot rely only on rehabilitation centers, which cannot help everyone; there are still many shortcomings in this system. Therefore, we must begin with the education of young people. Alcohol, tobacco, and other addictions are all about filling the void in a person’s soul when a person cannot cope with stress, family problems, and conflicts. But all these addictions only aggravate his troubles. And the solution to the problem is to realize why the person “reached for a glass.” Yes, this is more difficult to deal with, but understanding the causes and solving problems is the future.

Irina Kirkora added that within the framework of the Presidential Council of the Russian Federation for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, a special extended meeting is already being prepared to work out specific activities on the tasks set today, February 29, by the President on the demographic block.