One challenge to his vision: Russia’s population has been in decline for years, and the war in Ukraine has made matters worse.
At least 150,000 Russians are dead on the battlefield, according to Western estimates. Nearly a million fled the country after the war began. The number of births is at its lowest in more than two decades, with bigger-than-average drops in babies born in some regions closest to the fight.
The Russian president has called raising the birthrate a national priority. He declared 2024 “the year of the family” and enacted subsidies for those with three or more children. Putin has pledged to spend up to $157 billion on measures to support families and children over the next six years.
Russian society itself, he said, has to change, with large families becoming more common.
“Motherhood is an exquisite purpose for women,” he said in an address on International Women’s Day in March. Family, he added, is “the most important thing for any woman, no matter what career path she chooses or what professional heights she attains.”
The biggest single boost to Russia’s population in recent years came when the country annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, adding around 2.4 million inhabitants.
Russia hasn’t included Ukrainian territories it has claimed in the war in its latest population counts.
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@Fr33SpeechZoeRepublican2yrs2Y
"At least 150,000 Russians are dead on the battlefield, according to Western estimates."
That's insane. For a benchmark, the US lost roughly 60k servicemen in the Vietnam War in nearly 20 years of combat! And that was using technology and medical capabilities from 50-70 years ago... Russia will soon triple those losses within 3 years of combat!
Oh, and Russia is only 1/3 the total population of the US too (and declining).
I know that Russia has a longstanding history of throwing its people into the meat grinder, but mind blowing how much more effective Western military capabilities appear to be when compared to the Russia's.
Such ridiculous comment. Russia is fighting the combined economic and industrial might of NATO, with GDP 25x that of Russia. Ukraine is a largest territory in Europe except that of Russia. US fought Vietnam, a tiny nation with GDP less than 1% of the US at the time.
@B4llotBoxGnuVeteran2yrs2Y
Not to mention all the Russian wounded who will need lifetime care and disability payments.
Yeah, and the millions who just straight up fled the country.
What was advertised by Putin as a "two week special military operation" has devolved into an absolute disaster for everyone, very much including Russia.
@BadgerCalMountain2yrs2Y
Yeah. Young Russian women swiping dating sites will be looking at males with 3 functioning limbs, at least one functioning eye & ear, no drug addiction, no screaming terrors at night and no desire to periodically murder or torture someone as "a real keeper".
This is what the war in Ukraine is really about. Putin wants those 44 million white, Christian Eastern Slavic people back. The Turkic and Asiatic populations of Russian provinces are growing faster than the Muscovites because many of those people can't afford to leave. The white Russian exodus after the fall of the Soviet Union is well documented.
@ReformBradyLibertarian2yrs2Y
This makes absolutely zero sense. How would Putin fix his country’s population crisis by relying on a country with a worse population decline crisis than his? Wish the shaking my head emoji was allowed.
So, in Putin’s rabid mind, he wants to capture more white peoples by murdering them?
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
Do you believe a government should have the right to influence family size, and why?
@Jgregsawyer 2yrs2Y
Not the business of government to regulate family size
@9NPZQRL2yrs2Y
Government should not get involved with how big a family gets.
As a Russian, I'd say most of those will be reduced to beggary cos there's no way Putin's oligarchy will spend actual cash on those 'spent' people
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
Do you believe a government should have the right to influence family size, and why?
@9NQDDVSRepublican2yrs2Y
No the growth of a family is none of the government’s business unless it involves polygamy.
I remember when people made up that Putin said it would take 'two years.' Then they made up that Putin said it would take 'two months.' Now it's down to 'two weeks.'
By the end of this year, people will claim Putin said 'The Special Military Operation will take only about two minutes.' How long before he said 'two seconds?'
You could be quoting the CIA, not Putin.
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
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