Russians Get Paid (Rubles) to Have Babies!

You read that right…in Russia, families that have more than one child are eligible to receive cash vouchers of $10,000 and subsidies for education and home improvements.  Seems the Ruskies are battling population decline as a result of lower birth rates since the USSR collapsed back in '91, low life expectancies, and immigration.

The program, around since 2005, seems to be working…there was a 46% increase in births that year over 2004.

As further evidence of just how committed to incentivizing conception the Russians are, they have a contest in Ulyanovsk (a town about 500 miles east of Moscow) that challenges couples to conceive and give birth on June 12th which is Russia's National Day. Babies born on National Day earn their parents cash, cars, appliances and other prizes. 

Wait - there's more!  The leaders of Ulyanovsk created a holiday (Sept. 12) for couples to take time off from work to have sex…ok, to conceive…but quite a concept regardless!

You can read more about this here. You can petition your representatives in Washington for similar treatment by finding them here.