In the spirit of
welcoming the 7 billionth human being to our planet, here's an article about Russia:
Vladimir Putin Receives Virgin Mary 'Fertility' Relic. It seems that under the Soviet Union's draconian abortion policies, the Russian people have achieved a fertility rate of 1.4. That means each generation is producing only 1.4 people to replace each couple, which is a loss of 1/3 of the population per generation. Russia is trying to counter the trend by making abortions past 12 weeks' gestation illegal, but it may be a case of too little too late.
Japan has an even bigger problem, with a fertility rate of 1.37, and a smaller population to begin with. The Japanese government has offered a bonus of 350,000 Yen (about $4600) for each baby born, offers paid "conjugal leave," and has invented, with typical Japanese ingenuity,
a robot designed to encourage couples to have children.
The United States is also experiencing population loss, although immigration is making up the difference for now. Let's learn a lesson from Russia and love our kids.
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1 comments:
In Australia, parents get a $5000.00 baby bonus. There was a campaign a few years ago telling people to have one for mum, one for dad and one for the govt. I don't think many Australians have done this though.
We also have immigration that is making up for the difference too.
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