In Russia’s Ulyanovsk region, the birthplace of Lenin, the regional government has declared September 12 the “Day of Conception,” throwing in a promise of time off work for couples striving to make that day a success.  Such programs have been instituted more frequently since Russian President Vladimir Putin made boosting the country’s birthrate part of his grand design of “national projects.”  Indeed, Putin has called the country’s demographic collapse the most acute problem facing the nation and has announced a federal program aimed at increasing incentives for families to have more than one child.  Under the federal program, women who give birth to two or more children are eligible for certificates valued at 250,000 rubles (about $10,000).  These certificates can be used to pay for a child’s education or for improving the family’s housing and living conditions.  The Russian government also raised child-support payments this year from 700 to 1,500 rubles (about $60) per month.

The combined problem of declining birthrates and horrific mortality rates has alarmed Russians for years.  This trend started under communism, then accelerated following the collapse of the Soviet Union and, with it, Russia’s economy and Soviet-era social-support system.  Russia is now facing the prospect of her population falling below 100 million by 2050.  (The latest census has the Russian population at about 141 million.)  Meanwhile, the Kremlin watches as illegal immigrants from China slowly fill the vacuum left in vast tracts of sparsely inhabited Russian Federation territory, especially in Siberia, which abounds with natural resources.  And the question of “migrants”—a term encompassing immigrants (both legal and illegal) mainly from the Caucasus and Central Asia—and their impact on the “core population” (read: “the population in mostly Slavic regions”) has become a major political issue.

So it is no surprise that certain regional governors have attempted to demonstrate the serious nature of the issue by boosting their own government-sponsored programs to increase birthrates.  Journalist Liza Kuznetsova has followed the Ulyan-ovsk program, reporting that the regional government’s slogan “Give birth to a patriot” is part of Gov. Sergey Morozov’s plan to produce a large brood of “patriots” who will appear nine months later, on Russia Day.  The program has been under way in Ulyanovsk since 2005, and, according to Kuznetsova, the number of competitors (everyone involved wins something, including refrigerators and cash prizes, but the couple deemed the “fittest” parents win a grand prize) has increased each year, while the region has enjoyed something of a baby boom.  Last year, 500 women signed up, and, nine months later, 78 babies were born—triple the region’s daily average.  Kuznetsova reports that the national anthem was played as the “patriotic” babies came into the world.  The region’s birthrate is up 4.5 percent this year over 2006, according to the regional administration.

This year’s grand prize was a UAZ-Patriot—an SUV produced in the region.  The happy winners were Irina and Andrey Kartuzov, who were awarded the prize because of their “respectability” and “commendable parenting” of their two other children.  Aleksey Bezrukov and his wife, Yulia, won a substantial cash prize following the birth of their third child, Andrey.  “It was a patriotic atmosphere, when everyone is celebrating, but I wasn’t thinking of anything but my son,” said Aleksey.  “The whole thing is great, it’s great to get 250,000 rubles when you have a new baby to take care of.”

A Russia awash in oil money can pay her people to have more babies, and, with an improved economic situation, Russia has enjoyed an uptick in birthrates.  This is a good thing, so far as it goes, but the gains from demographic incentives will likely be too slight to solve the problem of a shrinking “core population.”  Russia must deal with her children’s mortality rates—especially those of working-age males, who are prone to alcoholism, suicide, murder (many of which are undoubtedly alcohol related), heavy smoking, and stress (contributing to heart disease).  Influential political and economic constituencies also profit from the vodka and tobacco sales that play such a big role in Russian mortality rates.

The economic improvements in Russia have not been widely distributed.  The gap between rich and poor is wide and getting wider, and inflation has had a greater impact on the poor, particularly when it comes to food and housing costs.

Apart from mortality rates and economic disparities, there is the problem of abortion; in Russia, abortions often outpace live births.

There is another problem, however, which no state program can solve—the spiritual problem of a people that has lost its faith and, with it, the sense that sharing in the miracle of creation by bearing and rearing children is both desirable and a duty before God and posterity.  Pounding the patriotic drumbeat may help for a while, but, without a tie that binds the present generation to past and future, to ancestor and descendant, refrigerators and SUVs won’t be enough to ensure that Russia survives.