Vladimir Putin said that if every family had only one child, the population would decrease. (document)
Russian families must have at least two children for the country’s national survival and three or more if they are to develop and prosper, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
Russia has suffered heavy but undisclosed human tolls since launching war in Ukraine nearly two years ago, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the country because they oppose the conflict or fear being drafted into the war.
Putin told employees at a tank factory in the Ural region that if the Russian people wanted to protect their identity, every family must raise at least two children.
“If we want to survive as a people – or as a people living in Russia – we have to have at least two children,” he said.
If each family had just one child, he said, the population would shrink. “And in order to expand and grow, you need at least three kids.”
Putin has declared himself a supporter of “traditional values” based on family, country and Orthodox faith. During his 24 years in power, the country severely restricted the expression of sexual orientation and gender identity and banned the “LGBT movement” on the grounds of “extremism.”
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia’s population experienced two decades of gradual decline, exacerbated by long-term problems such as alcoholism.
The National Bureau of Statistics estimates the population at 146.4 million by early 2023, down from nearly 149 million 20 years ago but up from a low of about 143 million from 2007 to 2012.
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