Of a slightly happier variety this time though 🙂
Yesterday was officially Family Contact Day in the Ulyanovsk oblast in Russia. The reason workers were encouraged to take the day off? Russia’s population is still declining, and so officials are hoping that the offer of prizes for mothers that give birth on 12 June next year will be enough incentive for husbands and wives to remedy the declining population situation in a private way. (Hopefully with their own wife or husband, not anyone elses…)
Although there is already a scheme put in place nationally by Putin to give mothers who give birth to a second or third baby $9,000 towards education or housing costs, Ulyanovsk’s governor has decided to offer a little more, with this year main prize being an SUV! Within this specific area, the birth rate has bucked the national trend and risen over 4%. Combine the prizes with the standard family pressure to provide grandchildren/nieces and nephews to family members, and you can see why the population size may well recover eventually.