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A city in Russia has offered a bonus to doctors and medical practitioners if they successfully change the minds of pregnant women from aborting, as the country tries to reverse the trend of population decline.
The Russian city of Murmansk, which is located in the Arctic Circle, has sent a memo to doctors offering monetary benefits for discouraging their female patients from undergoing abortions.
A total number of 4,298 babies were born in Murmansk between January and October 2024, a decrease of 286 than the previous year, data from local statistics show.
The first incentive, totalling 25,000 rubles (approximately $300), is aimed at gynaecologists and obstetricians trained in providing psychological counselling to patients contemplating abortion. To receive the payment, doctors must not only persuade the woman to abandon her plans for an abortion before 12 weeks of pregnancy but also oversee her care through to the delivery of the baby.
Under the proposal, doctors from other specialities and certified counsellors without medical degrees would be awarded bonuses of 5,000 rubles (about $60) for successfully persuading a pregnant woman not to proceed with an abortion.
Murmansk’s Governor Andrey Chibis last year called the population decline in his city “a problem and a challenge for the country as a whole and for Murmansk Region in particular.”
The document sent to medical practitioners says that the proposal has been made “to prevent termination of pregnancy and increase birth rates in the Murmansk Region.”
Impact Shorts
More ShortsRussia is experiencing a significant demographic crisis, marked by a declining population, historically low birth rates, and increasing mortality. According to Rosstat, Russia’s population could decrease from approximately 146 million to 138.8 million by 2046 under the baseline forecast, or to 130 million in a more pessimistic scenario.