Russia presents a hero's award and nearly $16,800 to women with ten kids

August 19, 2022: -The Russian government announced restoring the Soviet-era honorary title “Mother Heroine” for women with ten or more children as it confronts a population decline that has accelerated since it invaded Ukraine.

According to a decree signed this week by President Vladimir Putin, the title will be awarded to those who “birth and raise” 10 Russian citizens, with a lump sum of 1 million Russian rubles received when the 10th child turns one.

The children must have been provided the “appropriate level of care for health, education, physical, spiritual and moral development,” the assessment process for which is not specified.

Therefore, all ten kids must be alive unless they die in a military, official, or civic service or in a terrorist attack.

The “Mother Heroine” title was fixed in 1944 and awarded until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Recipients will accept a medal of a five-pointed star, the decree states.

They will be an equivalent rank to those with the titles “Hero of the Russian Federation,” usually awarded for bravery, and “Hero of Labor,” awarded for service to the form.

According to U.N. data, Russia’s working-age population has been declining as a share of the overall state since 2010.

Analysts have long suggested that the country’s declining and aging population was possible to constrain growth in the coming decades. A forecast from the Economist Intelligence Unit, published early this year, estimated the overall Russian people would have contracted by 8.4% from its 1995 level by 2050.

Russia’s unprovoked onslaught in Ukraine since February 24 may have accelerated these trends.

The Russian population decreased by a record 86,000 people a month from January to May, the Moscow Times reports, which cited official figures. The last record was a decrease of 57,000 people a month in 2002.

Despite Russia dealing with heavy casualties since its invasion, state statistics agency Rosstat showed a decline in the number of deaths year on year, with the difference being fueled by migration and a decrease in births. Rosstat says that the overall population was around 145.1 million.