Russia Facing Threat of ‘Extinction,’ Launches New ‘Breeding Scheme’ to Help Remedy the Problem: Officials

While the war in Ukraine rages on, Russian authorities are deeply concerned about the potential "extinction" of their nation, but this anxiety has nothing to do with the conflict in Ukraine, according to officials.

Russia reportedly launched a new scheme on Sept. 1 which aims to increase the birth rate in certain cities because the demographic of the country has become “alarming,” according to a new report from Kremlin-backed Russian news outlet Moskovskij Komsomolets.

Authorities said the current birth rate in Russia is about 1.5 births per every woman in the country. This places Russia 190th in the world.

These statistics were last released in 2020 and show a 0.2% drop from the previous year. For Russia, they are far below the worldwide average rate of 2.27 children per woman, MK reported.

According to authorities, this new plan to increase the birth rates has been rolled out to Novgorod, Penza and Tambov, which have the worst birth rates in the entire country. However, officials have not released any details of exactly how the scheme will work.

Demographic politician Yuri Krupnov told MK, “The positive thing is that the regions with the most difficult demographic situation have been identified and the goals of changing the situation have been declared. But given the fact that there is no general understanding of demography in society, it is not clear how this can be done.”

Krupnov said this new scheme is “fairly confidential information” and there are “no methodological recommendations,” stating he “can’t yet imagine what creative things the government will offer for these regions.”

As of 2021, Russia's population stood at 143 million, but that figure was released pre-war. Krupnov said he expects that number to be cut in half within the next 70 years.

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Krupnov said, “Mum and dad will go to another world, and instead of the two of them, one and a half people will remain. If the situation does not change, by the end of the century there will be approximately 70–80 million left in Russia.”

He said they need 2.5 children in the family and to do that, they “need to restore the family — today there are as many divorces in the country as there are marriages,” MK reported.