Russian authorities have paid more than 7,000 one-time benefits to pregnant schoolgirls and students

Russian authorities have paid more than 7,000 one-time benefits to pregnant schoolgirls and students

At least 37 regions have introduced one-time benefits since 2025 for pregnant schoolgirls and female students “studying full-time,” and 23 of those regions have paid at least 7,041 benefits, Verstka found.

This is a minimum estimate; in reality, there are likely far more payments: about a third of regions have still not provided information about such subsidies. The largest number of such payments were made in Stavropol Krai, Kemerovo Region and Nizhny Novgorod Region.

Each region independently regulates who can receive such a payment: in seven cases, schoolgirls are effectively listed among the recipients in addition to female students, and in another 21, schoolgirls are not excluded from the pool of potential recipients.

Such incentive payments, together with anti-abortion restrictions, are intended by the authorities to encourage women to give birth. Demographers who spoke with Verstka are certain: such political measures cannot be effective and are unlikely to raise the birth rate.

Read on Verstka’s website (with a VPN) about what anti-abortion and incentive measures are in force in different regions, and what women who decide to have an abortion have to go through:

Link not working? Read here or on Telegram.

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