Translated material
The governor blamed the consumer society for the falling birth rate in Russia
Governor of the Kurgan region Vadim Shumkov blamed consumer society for the fact that Russians do not want to have children. To increase the birth rate in the country, it is necessary to “refashion” the information agenda, the head of the region believes. Shumkov stated this during a direct line, he was quoted by RBC.
Shumkov believes that money should not influence a family’s desire to have children. Parents should have offspring regardless of “financial incentives,” the head of the Kurgan region believes. Among such incentives, he named maternity capital. “All attempts by the state to buy fertility and children with money turn into nothing,” the governor said.
The real problem, Shumkov believes, lies in the ideology of Russians. The governor suggested that citizens live according to the ideals of a consumer society, in which having children is unprofitable. In his opinion, the demographic situation in the country should be decided by sociologists and psychologists - they are the ones who can understand “why today people do not give birth to other people.”
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“You and I have been sculpting a consumer society for 30 years, and a consumer society does not need children. You can't consume children. And when you have children, it’s more difficult to consume, because you have to be distracted by them with both money and time,” he said.
To improve the demographic situation in Russia, we need to “dig into the heads” of Russians, then “refashion our information agenda” and create new incentives, Shumkov believes. Another thing that demotivates Russians to give birth is the “25th frame effect.”
“If you read our newspapers, our Internet, watch TV, add up all the films - according to the effect of the 25th frame, it is written in meter-long letters: “Don’t give birth.” Watch movies, everything is fine, or vice versa, murder. And, in general, children are not really needed on this social agenda,” he explained.
A source for the publication “Verstka” in the Kremlin reported that the presidential administration will assess the ability of the governors of Russian regions to raise the birth rate. This indicator will be included in the list of key performance indicators (KPIs) of regional heads from 2025 under the name “total fertility rate”. KPIs are approved by Vladimir Putin, and failure to achieve goals for these indicators may serve as grounds for the resignation of governors.
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