Vladimir Putin has pushed Russian women to have “seven, eight, or more” children in an effort to reverse the country’s population decline.
The massive country of 143.4 million people has seen a sharp decline in birth rates in recent years, and it is believed that the president’s disastrous invasion of Ukraine is to blame for discouraging even more people from starting families.
Putin only publicly acknowledges that he has two daughters, but it is thought that he has at least six children from three different partners. Putin said:
“Thank God many of our people have a tradition of a strong multi-generational family, raising four, five and more children. Let us remember how in Russian families many of our grandmothers and great grandmothers had seven, eight, or even more children.
For all Russians, having a big family and lots of children should become the standard of living. His appeal comes after the Russian population fell by 555,000 in the first year of Putin’s war, and many families are now afraid to start new families or expand existing ones because more men are being sent to fight on the front lines.
Russia’s crashing economy also discourages families from having children, according to demographers. Putin, 71, and his first wife, Lyudmila Putina, 65, the former first lady of Russia, are known to have had two daughters.
