Putin says the war isn’t driving Russia’s falling birth rate
The war in Ukraine is affecting Russia’s birth rate, but it isn’t the main cause of the country’s demographic crisis, Vladimir Putin said at a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum.
”SVO, of course, has some effect, but the SVO isn’t the reason. After all, Japan doesn’t have any SVO, and neither does South Korea, yet their birth rate is lower than ours. Yes, of course, we need to pay attention to all the factors. But that’s probably still not the main one,” Putin said.
Putin said there is no simple explanation for the falling birth rate: “We both know that in post-industrial societies the birth rate is low, while in countries with relatively poor populations it is high,” he said.
Putin said raising the birth rate will require new incentives for families and young women, along with a shift in “public consciousness.” He noted that Russia reversed the negative demographic trend and achieved a noticeable increase in the birth rate in the mid-2000s. “We have the experience, and we will definitely repeat it,” he said.
Rosstat stopped publishing monthly regional data on births and deaths in 2025, then completely removed the demographic section from its monthly report on Russia’s socioeconomic situation.
The move came amid a historic decline in Russia’s birth rate: an average of 3,012 children were born per day in March 2025, the lowest figure in nearly 200 years of record-keeping. Putin, speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum, called demographics a matter of national security.
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