Russia faces a shrinking and aging population and tries restrictive laws to combat it

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

For a quarter century, President Vladimir Putin has faced the specter of Russia's shrinking and aging population.

In 1999, a year before he came to power, the number of babies born in Russia plunged to its lowest recorded level. In 2005, Putin said the demographic woes needed to be resolved by maintaining "social and economic stability.”

In 2019, he said the problem still “haunted” the country.

As recently as Thursday, he told a Kremlin demographic conference that increasing births was “crucial” for Russia.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/russia-faces-shrinking-aging-population-041243485.html

[CanonRay]

1. Killing off the male population between 18 and 50 probably isn't helping

[Jilly_in_VA]

2. You can't make old people have kids

The story of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac is Biblical mythology. And the young men? Gone to soldiers, every one, as the song says. That leaves a whole set of young women without partners. Where does he suppose the babies will come from? I guess he means to steal more Ukrainian kids. That won't go over well with President Zelenskyy.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. lt's not just Russia.

Lots of countries, including most of Europe and Japan have birthrates well under replacement rate.

If it weren't for immigration, legal or otherwise, this country would lose population.

[slightlv]

4. This is true... but there is a way to combat it; the countries

just don't have the stomach or resources for it. Policies have to change to make having a family, and supporting the extended family, easier. That will mean the rich have to give up some of their riches so their workers can live a decent life with their families. Prices have to come down so the cost of living is reasonable to everyone. These types of policies will never happen until we get hold of the rich and make them pay their fair share. Tax the rich until there are no rich no more. I saw someone posted that line yesterday in a reply, and have been trying to remember the song from which it came since then. But we don't have to tax them out of existence; we just have to go back to taxing policies we had pre 1960's, with a truly fair and progressive tax structure. Making 3000x what your workers make is ridiculous, greedy, and flat-out evil in my book.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. Trust me, birhs are not going to increase,

even if your policies could actually come into being.

Women are not crazy about pregnancy and childbirth. They will avoid it whenever they can.

And while I absolutely agree that we need to go back to earlier taxing policies, increased birthrates will not be a consequence.

[slightlv]

6. Well, I do agree that the days of 5+ children per family are long gone...

even the Catholics have backed off that, I believe! I could still see us moving to 2-3 children per family, IF the environment could support them... both climate and economic. Would that be enough? I dunno... but it might be interesting to implement some of the policies that HAVE worked for families in the past and see what happens.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. Trust me, there are no policies in the

past that increased births, other than those that totally banned birth control and abortion. In those cases, the increased forced births result in abandoned babies.

When people think about having a baby, another baby, they are not thinking about the environment, only their personal circumstances. Even if we somehow go back to nuclear families where dad works and mom stays home (we'll have flying cars much sooner) women aren't going to go back to having more babies. We won't.

[peppertree]

8. True. Reminds me of that JP Morgan wealth management being aired currently.

The young couple is talking to their financial adviser about their future plans.

A safari, maybe a horse ranch....and a baby.

"Babies!" the lecherous dad sneers at his wife.

She turns slightly - gives him that "one more word, and you won't be fathering an idea" look - and snaps at him: "...baby."

I've seen horror films that start out a lot like that.