– By decree of the President of Russia, 2024 was declared the Year of the Family. Its task is to promote state policy in the field of family protection and preserve traditional family values. Overall, this initiative fully fits into the set of long-term strategic measures of the Russian government aimed at saving the Russian people. In December 2021, at the final press conference, the president called the salvation of the people one of the most important tasks and an engine of growth for Russia.
It must be admitted that this idea has been in the air for a long time, and not even during the first century. Mikhail Lomonosov initiated discussions on the topic of population conservation, Dmitry Mendeleev continued this topic, followed by Russian philosophers and scientists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Mendeleev, who was the first to describe the social and demographic problems of the country in modern terms, argued that for the expanded reproduction of the population, measures that promote greater well-being, greater social and economic activity, and increased hope for life are of importance. particular importance. After him, no one questioned the idea that an increase in population is only possible by guaranteeing a dignified existence, overcoming poverty and developing the economy.
These are the priorities of the first national development objective of the presidential decree signed in July 2020. It is about the preservation of the population, the health and well-being of the people, which implies guaranteeing the sustainable growth of the country’s population and increase life expectancy, including by increasing the proportion of citizens who systematically participate in physical education and sports, as well as reducing poverty levels. And all this should collectively contribute to a radical improvement in the quality of life of Russians.
Thus, the main components of the successful preservation of the people of Russia are an increase in the birth rate to a level that ensures natural and higher reproduction, an increase in life expectancy and the fight against poverty. The activities during the Year of the Family will be aimed at supporting the first of these tasks. So New Year’s Eve is a good time to think once again about ways to achieve your goals.
Let’s start with the task of expanded population reproduction.
In a recent speech at the plenary session of the Russian World People’s Council, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the program of support for families with children the most ambitious in the country’s history, but at the same time admitted that the work must continue: “We still have to do a lot to improve the living conditions of large families and families with children in general.” In fact, the practice of recent years has shown that to stabilize the demographic situation, the greatest possible support for large families. Mothers with three or more children should receive comprehensive assistance that ensures that the quality of life in the family remains at an acceptable level. Initiatives that could generate this level of support have recently been widely discussed in the media Here there are additional benefits from the purchase of real estate, a reduction in working hours for parents with many children, an increase in the amount of maternity capital and much, much more. However, in general they all boil down to increasing funding for families with a large number of children, and in this case it does not matter what form the additional support takes. It is important to increase significantly if we want to achieve a turning point in the dynamics of the birth rate. Among other things, one can take into account the Hungarian experience of various benefits for large families, which bring good results in terms of increasing the birth rate.
The truth of life is that raising three or more children is the same form of employment as going to work every day. In short, the State should support large families. The mother must receive a salary close to the national average, as well as child benefits sufficient to support her financially. It is also necessary to train more doctors and teachers, build clinics, schools and everything necessary to support the younger generation. Yes, such a program can become one of the main items of budget expenditure, but without it we will not be able to solve the problem of the increasing birth rate. It is simply impossible to force families to have many children in any other way, and no call to give birth instead of studying will help here.
Today, the lifestyle changes that have occurred over the past decades are widely discussed. It is argued that many women are “focused” on obtaining an education and career growth, which does not mesh well with having many children. However, we believe that choosing a large family is not an obligation, but an opportunity. Some families may be left with few children, while many women will voluntarily prefer life in the family circle without going to work every day if they understand that state benefits are sufficient for a normal life. The main thing is that they do not lose a sufficient quality of life.
Of course, the problem of expanded population reproduction cannot be solved with money alone. As President Putin said in his speech at the plenary session of the World Council of the Russian People, “it is impossible to overcome the most difficult demographic challenges we face only with the help of money, social payments, allowances, benefits and individual programs. “It is clear that we need support for the traditional values of the Russian large family, including by promoting traditional family holidays, such as the day of Saints Peter and Fevronia, in the secular tradition called Day of Family, Love and Fidelity … A combination of material and non-material incentives will be more effective. Holidays and symbols will not remain floating in the air if they are based on examples of effective state assistance to large families to maintain the desired quality of life.
The second component of the task of saving the people is increasing life expectancy. The problem is that our country has not yet developed a culture of taking care of one’s own health. And among Russians the idea that a long and healthy life is a source of happiness is not yet widespread. Research shows that Russians consider a life expectancy of about 88 years to be sufficient, and in recent years the desired life expectancy in our country has not increased. For it to increase, Russians must see increasing attention to older people, including an improvement in their material support and the quality of medical care. And this will also require additional resources. In this sense, the task of improving the quality of life of older Russians, providing them with high-quality, long-term care, as well as expanding programs aimed at longevity, such as those being developed in the capital, is more urgent. That sometime.
And finally, the fight against poverty. Interestingly, this is where we have the most success. Polls show that in November this year only 18% of Russians considered their financial situation to be bad, while in 2013, before the introduction of all sanctions against Russia, that figure was 27%. At the same time, 25% believe that their financial situation will improve over the next year, only 13% think otherwise. In all age groups except the oldest, optimistic forecasts about one’s own well-being prevail over pessimistic ones. The goal is for people over 60 to have confidence in the future and see opportunities to increase the purchasing power of their income.
It is obvious that the optimistic sentiment regarding income growth is based on the increase in wages and indexation of social benefits that the government has recently implemented. The growth in wages and incomes is great, but in addition it is necessary to create more opportunities for self-realization for Russians. And for this it is necessary to intensify the work of social elevators capable of creating a new Russian elite. The national elite, the basis of society, are people capable of becoming leaders in business and public life, or who are already optimistic and confident in their own future, the future of the country and the business in which they are engaged. those who have achieved material well-being for themselves and are capable of creating it is for those who believed in them, in a word, those who want and are able to build a strong new Russia in the interests of future generations. Unfortunately, there are still not many people like that, only a small percentage of the population. There should be many more, because without them it will be difficult to ensure the accelerated socio-economic development of the country.
And, of course, in this regard it is necessary to remember the task of increasing labor productivity. Yes, the country has a serious shortage of workers and I do not want the task of replenishing the workforce to be solved by an influx of immigrants. We must remember that Russia, unfortunately, is far behind industrialized countries in terms of automation of production. Therefore, investing in unmanned factories is one of the possibilities to reduce the need for workers, which will make the influx of immigrants into our country unnecessary, and will also increase the amount of public wealth, which we so need to put the main emphasis . to save the people of Russia.
THE NAIS IS OFFICIAL EDITOR ON NAIS NEWS