Baby Comes With Cash, Fridge and Car
How To Increase The Population
Don’t be surprised if the streets are empty and curtains drawn in this central Russian region Wednesday as residents take up an offer by the regional governor to help stem Russia’s demographic crisis. Ulyanovsk Gov. Sergei Morozov has decreed Sept. 12 a Day of Conception and is giving couples time off from work to procreate. Couples who give birth nine months later on Russia’s national day — June 12– will receive money, cars, refrigerators and other prizes. It’s the third year that the Volga River region, about 550 miles east of Moscow, has held the contest. Since then, the number of competitors — and the number of babies born — has been on the rise. June 12 is a significant day because it is the holiday known as Russia Day (when the Russian parliament formally declared its sovereignty in 1990).
Russia’s population has dropped since the 1991 Soviet collapse (one year after parliament formally declared its sovereignty), fed by declining birth rates, a low life expectancy, a spike in emigration, a frayed health care system and other factors. Just 311 women signed up to take part in the first competition, in 2005, and qualify for a half-day off from work. The next June, 46 more babies were born in Ulyanovsk’s 25 hospitals compared to the previous June, including 28 born on June 12. Women who give birth to their second or third child receive $10,000 vouchers to pay for education or home repairs. Couples preparing for conception day have given local lingerie stores a financial boost. The town hall also has seen an increase in marriages among wannabe parents.
