It seems the Russian government has decided to step in and do something about their declining population. The population of Russia has been on the decline since the early 1990’s and is projected to go from the 143 million it was in 2006 to 111 million in 2050 unless some changes take place.

One such “change” that may help slow this decline is taking place in the region of Ulyanovsk where the governor has decreed September 12 a day of conception. They are giving people time off work to make babies. To help to encourage this, couples who give birth nine months later on June 12 (Russia’s national day) receive money, cars, refrigerators and other prizes.

This will be the third year of this incentive, and thus far, there has not been a massive movement to take the government up on this offer.

Perhaps, rather than a program such as this, they would be better off solving the problems that are causing this population decline instead.

If the population decline is like a tire with a leak, this program is like putting more air in the tire. It might help for a little bit, but eventually you will have to fix the leak. Russia should probably try to remove the causes for the population decline (emigration, infant mortality rates, etc) in order to reverse the trend.