August 15, 2007 4:27 PM
Russians rewarded with time off for procreating
Russians get day off to procreate, then win prizes
By The Denver PostMoscow - A Russian region of Ulyanovsk has found a novel way to fight the nation's birth-rate crisis: It has declared Sept. 12 the Day of Conception and for the third year running is giving couples time off from work to procreate.
The hope is for a brood of babies exactly nine months later on Russia's national day. Couples who "give birth to a patriot" during the June 12 festivities win money, cars, refrigerators and other prizes.
Ulyanovsk, about 550 miles east of Moscow, has held similar contests since 2005. Since then, the number of competitors, and the number of babies born to them, has been on the rise.
Russia, with one-seventh of Earth's land surface, has just 141.4 million citizens, making it one of the most sparsely settled countries in the world. With a low birth rate and a high death rate, the population has been shrinking since the early 1990s.
In his state-of-the-nation address last year, President Vladimir Putin called the demographic crisis the most acute problem facing Russia and announced a broad effort to boost Russia's birth rate, including cash incentives to families that have more than one child.
Ulyanovsk Gov. Sergei Morozov has added an element of fun to the national campaign.
The 2007 grand prize went to Irina and Andrei Kartuzov, who received a UAZ-Patriot, a sport utility vehicle. Other contestants won video cameras, TVs, refrigerators and washing machines.
I reported at The Miz Report (why not bookmark that one too?) last week on the cultlike strategies being used in Russia to encourage the youth to procreate: Meanwhile back at the ranch: youth indoctrination in Russia.
Posted in Current Affairs | Permalink
Comments
I already commented on this on another site, but I feel like repeating myself - why don't they just ban abortion? How schizo.
Posted by: Marie | August 15, 2007 4:56 PM
Am I the only one who realizes that conceiving "on" Sept. 12 makes one's due date June 4?
Posted by: Jill (colicmommy) | August 15, 2007 5:50 PM
Too funny........Only a percentage of women will be ovulating that day. :) I guess that's not the point, though!
I wish the U.S would do this-we have lots of population zero nuts here.....
Posted by: Lisa | August 15, 2007 7:42 PM
i don't get it. then why so many children in their orphanages??? why not just encourage the people to adopt the children they already have?
Posted by: agatha | August 16, 2007 7:29 AM
There are over 700,000 Russian children in orphanages. This story makes no sense.
Posted by: Mike | August 16, 2007 1:06 PM
If the children in the orphanages are from the "wrong" religious or ethnic background it makes perfect sense from an evolutionistic viewpoint.
Posted by: Lavender Blue | August 16, 2007 4:22 PM
