Russian President Vladimir Putin is encouraging Russians to have more children and halt falling birth rates by bringing back an award created by Joseph Stalin that rewards mothers with 10 kids.
Putin has brought back the Soviet-era award aimed at encouraging Russian women to have more babies. The honorary title ‘Mother Heroine’ was established under Joseph Stalin in 1944 after the country suffered tremendous casualties during World War II.
The prize, which was first scrapped after the fall of the Soviet Union, amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
More than 400,000 citizens received this honorary title, but it was scrapped after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Now Putin has revived the award, having previously said that ‘cardinal’ measures are needed to solve the country’s steep population decline.
Russian mothers who give birth to 10 or more children will receive a one-time payment of 1 million rubles (about Rs 13 lakh) when their tenth child turns one. They will only get the money if all nine other children are still alive, but there will be some exceptions for those killed by acts of terrorism or in armed conflict.
Winners of the ‘Mother Heroine’ title will also receive gold medals decorated with the Russian flag. The title carries a similar level of prestige to other state orders such as the Hero of Labour and the Hero of Russia, according to The Moscow Times.
Russia has been hit with a decline in birth rate over recent years, with the 2022 numbers down by 400,000 to 145.1 million. The rate of decline has nearly doubled since 2021 and has nearly tripled since the year before, in part due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.