Russian deputies adopted a law on Tuesday banning the promotion of a child-free lifestyle, against a backdrop of a demographic crisis amplified by the conflict in Ukraine and the Kremlin's defense of “traditional values”.
Individuals accused of engaging in this promotion of a child-free lifestyle, in media, films, advertisements, would risk heavy fines, according to this text which must still be validated by the upper house and signed. by President Vladimir Putin.
Addressing the deep demographic crisis
According to the law, individuals accused of engaging in this promotion of a child-free lifestyle, in media, films, advertisements, would risk a fine of 400,000 rubles (around 4,000 euros), civil servants double that. while for legal entities the sanction could be increased to 5 million rubles (47,000 euros). “We are passing this bill to protect our young people from unnecessary ideologies”commented Nina Ostanina, chair of the family policy committee of the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament.
In addition to defending the so-called values “traditional”the text intends to remedy the deep demographic crisis in Russia, inherited from the Soviet era, but which the authorities have never managed to stop despite pronatalist measures which have not had the expected effects. In July, the Kremlin recognized a situation “catastrophic for the future of the nation”. In 2023, the fertility rate in Russia was 1.41 children per woman of childbearing age, according to initial estimates from the Russian statistics agency (Rosstat), cited by the economic daily RBC.
