MOSCOW, March 19, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Russia will refer women who do not want to 
have children to psychologists under new health guidelines designed to 
address a systemic demographic crisis.

Russia's dwindling birth rate has been one of President Vladimir Putin's main 
worries during his 25-year rule and with Moscow having sent hundreds of 
thousands of young men to the front in Ukraine over the last four years, the 
problem has only worsened.

Under new guidelines from the health ministry for reproductive health checks, 
doctors will ask women how many children they want to have.

If the woman answers zero, "it is recommended to send the patient to a 
consultation with a medical psychologist with the goal of forming a positive 
attitude towards having children."

The recommendations were approved in late February but only picked up by 
state media this week.

The Kremlin chief casts Russia's shrinking population as a matter of national 
survival -- warning in 2024 Russia faced "extinction" if it did not boost 
birth rates.

Russia's birth rate is running at a 200-year low of around 1.4 per woman -- 
far below the 2.1 that demographers say is necessary for a stable population.

In recent years Moscow has tightened abortion rules and passed bills to make 
so-called "child-free propaganda" illegal.

Large families are heralded as national heroes and offered a host of 
financial and social benefits from the state.