Russia plans to refer women who do not wish to have children to psychologists under new health guidelines aimed at tackling the country’s deepening demographic crisis.
The nation’s declining birth rate has been a key concern for President Vladimir Putin throughout his 25-year rule. The situation has worsened in recent years, particularly after hundreds of thousands of young Russian men were sent to the front lines in Ukraine.
Under the new guidelines issued by the health ministry for reproductive health check-ups, doctors are now instructed to ask women how many children they plan to have.
If a woman indicates she does not want children, the guidelines recommend that she be referred to a medical psychologist to help “form a positive attitude towards having children.” These recommendations were approved in late February but were only recently highlighted by state media.
The Kremlin frames Russia’s declining population as a matter of national survival, with President Putin warning in 2024 that the country faced “extinction” if birth rates did not improve. Currently, Russia’s fertility rate sits at a 200-year low of roughly 1.4 children per woman, far below the 2.1 needed to maintain a stable population.
In recent years, Moscow has tightened abortion laws and made “child-free propaganda” illegal. Families with multiple children are promoted as national heroes and receive financial and social incentives from the state.
