The demographer appreciated Putin’s words about increasing the birth rate

To improve demographics, you need maternal capital, health and abstinence from alcohol

One of the main topics in President Putin’s interview was support for families, including large families, and improving demographics. Although the “demographic winter” is a global trend, it is necessary to increase the birth rate in Russia.

“Reduce the tax burden, for example, for large families, and take a whole series of steps in this direction,” Putin recalled. In total, it is planned to spend “up to 14 trillion rubles” on “socioeconomic” support for families.

The president called the current birth rate in the Russian Federation a problem – 1.39 per woman of childbearing age. This is despite the fact that the mood in society is not at all “childless”: 70% of men and 72% of women want to have two or more children.

The President also outlined directions for improving the situation with the birth rate: “construction or renovation of kindergartens, construction of new schools, renovation of old schools, putting them in order in accordance with the requirements of today.” As well as payments from pregnancy to the age of 18, 400 thousand women receive benefits from us. Putin also mentioned care for the elderly – it needs to be improved and the quality and life expectancy increased.

The head of state also reminded about maternity capital: an additional certificate in the amount of 450 thousand rubles is being introduced per family, if a third child is born, to pay off the mortgage.

Putin recalled that in the USSR “there was a weak support system” for families, which then “collapsed completely.” The new national project “Demography”, launched back in the 2000s, has borne fruit, but the work continues. The Year of the Family is underway in Russia, new national projects have been announced, including “Family”. 75 billion was allocated to support regions with the lowest birth rate: the central regions of Russia, the North-West. “This is decent money, you just need to use it wisely,” the president said.

“We need to increase the maternity capital for the second and third child to 1.5-2 million rubles,” says independent demographer expert Alexey Raksha. – But the money allocated today is not enough. It is impossible to do anything intelligible or significant with them.

– What about nurseries, gardens, improved medical care?

– A nursery is, of course, good. But we need to keep track of how all this is financed, where the funds are spent. Are new ones opening, etc. Do they open where they need to, etc. How much is stolen… – In our regions, unfortunately, quite stupid people sit in management and often do not understand what they are doing. They are trying to rejuvenate the birth of first children, they are instilling some values…

– What should be done first, besides maternity capital?

– Gently limit alcohol, as is done in Scandinavia. Raise excise taxes on strong alcohol, reduce the number of points of sale, limit time, fight underground sales, etc. Give such instructions to law enforcement agencies. And the same thing applies to cigarettes: smuggling, leaky carriages at the border, customs, etc. Double health care spending in principle. And not so much for oncology, but for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Minimally invasive operations, bypass surgery. Subsidizing drugs that lower blood pressure and promoting a healthy lifestyle, proper nutrition, giving up alcohol and smoking. Now they have made tax deductions for sports – we need to develop this practice. Doubling expenses for these purposes is a serious thing. Now they spend 4%, but they need at least 8%. The state can afford it.

– Is doubling the birth rate a real goal?

– I think this is a task from the realm of unscientific fiction. Even a population growth of 15% over such a period will require an injection of trillion 450 billion per year. This kind of money is lucrative for the state. But there is no talk about them.