VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
“Every Russian citizen counts today. <…> We need to take new decisive steps to maintain and raise our population numbers. However, unless we revive the traditional attitude to basic moral values, no socio-economic policy will produce stable results. The efforts of the state, society, religious, educational and cultural organisations should be aimed at promoting a close-knit prosperous family with many children.”
“Our demographic policy is now at the stage where the greatest effect can be achieved through direct targeted measures in specific regions, taking into account regional specifics, traditions, and patterns of family life. In some constituent entities, this will mean providing plots of land to families with many children; in others, additional benefits; in still others, housing; and somewhere else – a combination of all these measures.”
“Our federal and regional programmes of support for families with children have proved to be highly effective; they must definitely be continued, though we also need to take additional steps in order to promote them still further. A particular focus has to be placed on the regions, where the demographic situation is still unstable.”
“We have achieved some significant results, but our main success story has been the positive demographic trends. <…> The natural decline in the population has fallen by 86.3% since 2000. Life expectancy in Russia has gone up by almost five years within a fairly short period of time – and this is a good indicator – it currently stands at just over 70 years (70.3). The birth rate has risen by almost 45%, while infant mortality rates have declined.”
“Let me stress that solving our demographic goals depends to a large extent on the activities of the regional governing teams, their commitment to creating improved conditions for people’s lives and for fulfilling their ambitions. Ultimately all economic achievements must have a tangible human dimension.”
“We must prioritise those regions where the experts record a negative demographic trend for several years in a row. <…> People of any ethnicity who live in the demographically stagnant areas and need support from the government will receive this help regardless of their ethnic origin.”
“What we need to do is not only to continue these programmes but expand them and put forward additional measures to boost the birth rate, which means supporting families with children as our top priority. Multi-child families should be the most valued, and families with two or three children the preferred social norm. We have to end the situation where the birth of a child causes a family financial difficulties or pushes it to the edge of poverty.”
“Without question, the positive trend in the birth rate is connected to the overall improvement of the situation in the country, the better quality of life for Russian families, and the wider planning horizon. Our support measures have also had an effect – in the form of federal subsidies for maternity capital, birth certificates, as well as the construction of regional perinatal centres and high-technology medical centres.”
“In 2011 over 1.7 million children were born and the death rate decreased by 5.6%. I’m pleased to say that these figures are the best Russia has seen in the last 19 years. Overall, the population loss also decreased 1.8 times, and the average life expectancy increased one and half years to 70.3 years in 2011 in the Russian Federation. These indices are absolutely comparable with European indices.”
“The infant mortality rate decreased, too. Including immigration, the total Russian population grew by 160,000 to 143 million. <…>I also want to point out that it is necessary to do much more than has recently been done. The demographic problem remains one of the most sensitive problems in Europe and in Russia, in particular. Meanwhile I am glad to note that our efforts have not been in vain. It is necessary to intensify our efforts in this area.”
“The birth rate has gone up, infant mortality is decreasing... The situation is changing for the better. One of the initiatives that we are working on is opening modern well-equipped medical centres, and perinatal centres in particular. <…> I would like to clarify what has happened after the opening of these perinatal centres. I will quote some figures. In regions where such perinatal centres operate, infant mortality is diving. Thus, infant mortality in the Kirov Region dropped by over 12% after the launch of a perinatal centre. It has decreased by impressive 33% in the Ryazan Region.”
“For post-industrial countries and all of Europe, for instance, the demographic situation is the most pressing issue. Russia is no exception. Demography has, without exaggeration, a fundamental importance here. Each family in Russia and the country as a whole, as well as its future prospects – I am not afraid of such florid verbiage – depend immensely on how we address this problem.”
“We have pushed back the demographic crisis that threatened Russia’s very existence. Just think of it – only recently, this country lost a million people a year. In 2008-2011 more than six million people were born in Russia – a record number in the last 20 years.”
“We will use every opportunity we get to strengthen these positive demographic trends and to support families with children. All aspects are important here: creating new jobs, having a flexible tax policy, resolving housing problems, and further developing the healthcare and education systems.”
“We must seize every opportunity to reinforce positive demographic trends and support families with children. Every aspect of this work is important, including the creation of new jobs, a flexible tax policy, and the development of healthcare and education. It is our duty to address all these problems, and we will continue to place them among our top priorities.”
“Since 2006 we have consistently increased our investment in public welfare, education and healthcare, focussing attention on mothers and children. We began with material support for families with children and for pregnant women. We introduced new welfare programs, such as maternity certificates and federal subsidies for multiple-child families, known as maternity capital. We regularly adjust this support as we announced at the start, so it gives recipients ever greater opportunities. Young families get some help with housing.”
“It matters tremendously now to preserve our achievements and prevent regress, to stabilise the demographic situation, and lay a firm and lasting foundation for improvement. This is our objective for the second stage of the demographic policy concept, for 2011-2015. Our top priorities remain unchanged – increased birth rate, circumspect immigration policy and, last but not least, reduced mortality rate, especially accidental deaths.”