Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 21 August (BelTA) – Every effort should be made to raise the social prestige of maternity and large families in Belarus, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said at the government meeting held on 21 August to shape a new mechanism to provide state support to families with kids, BelTA has learned.

The head of state stressed that today’s family support system has produced some good results. Belarus managed to stop a birth rate decline which was seen in the 1990s and to achieve some improvements. For example, there were 101,000 births in the country in 1995. Birth numbers in 2013 made up 118,000. The birth rate trend continues increasing this year. In H1 2014 the country welcomed 57,300 newborns, which is up 1,100 from the same period last year. “These showings are positive but still weak,” the head of state said. In his words, the birth rate should be considerably higher in the country, and a number of issues should be addressed for this matter.

First of all, it is not a secret that the demographic situation is largely dependable on the sex-age structure of the population. Unfortunately, the number of women of the reproductive age is going down. Every possible effort should be taken to enhance the social prestige of maternity and large families in the society, the President noted.

Secondly, in his words, about 70% of families in the country have only one child and this serves as a constraining factor. According to the head of state, the situation can be changed by strengthening the country’s commitment to long-term support of families with two and more children.

"It is a matter of national security, if you like it. If we do not have enough people, then there will be no use talking about independence,” the President stressed.

He recalled that last year he asked Sergei Rumas, as a parent with many children, to take the initiative and make proposals on the project "Big Family". They were studied in detail by the working group chaired by the head of the Presidential Administration. New proposals were developed and analyzed in the government.

Alexander Lukashenko said that the existing measures of state support for families with children were systematized, and the proposals to stimulate the birth rate were formulated. Today’s meeting will discuss in detail the proposed arrangements.

"Our task is to develop additional measures, both for short- and long-term, to stimulate and increase the Belarusian population," the President noted.