Russian Authority Urges 3 Kids by 35 Amid Birth Rate Collapse

The speaker of Russia’s Federation Council, Valentina Matvyienko urged Russian citizens to marry early and have at least three children before turning 35.

Russian state news agency TASS reports that Matvyienko made the remarks at a meeting with the participants of the “Train of Memory” cultural and educational project. Her comments come as Russia faces its steepest demographic decline in decades, with births falling to 1.2 million in 2024, dropping a further 4% to 288,800 in the first quarter of 2025 and sliding to 272,000 in the same period of 2026.

“I recommend falling in love early, marrying early, starting a family early,” Matvyienko said, adding that “Otherwise, you’ll keep ‘auditioning’ each other until you’re 30, and then you won’t want to take on the responsibility.”

“And unfortunately, especially some young women say, ‘For me, career comes first, family comes later.’ Believe me,” she continued, “later comes tears into the pillow, loneliness, and no happiness.”

Redefining “youth”

Matvyienko argued against raising the legal age threshold for youth beyond 35, saying the current limit gives young Russian citizens a clear deadline to meet their reproductive and professional obligations. 

She said the government could revisit the cutoff only if young people themselves wanted to be classified as “youth” until 30, leaving the door open to future legislative changes.

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A pattern of pronatalist proposals amid two-decade low fertility rates

According to The Moscow Times, independent demographer Alexey Raksha has put the 2025 birth total even lower, at 1.178 million, a 4% year-on-year decline that fell below the previous record low of 1.215 million set in 1999.

Raksha said that early 2026 births trailed the same period in 2025 by roughly 17,000, calling it the sharpest slowdown Russia has seen since the turn of the 19th century.

Russia’s total fertility rate dropped to 1,305 children per woman by the end of 2025, its lowest mark since 2006, The Moscow Times reports. The country’s statistics agency has withheld detailed birth, death and population data since spring 2025, making independent verification increasingly difficult.

Matviyenko’s remarks build on measures already pushed to reverse the population slide. Previously, she proposed a corporate “millionaires’ club” rewarding companies  that pay staff 1 million rubles (roughly $11,400) per child born, demographic performance benchmarks for state-run-firms, and a dedicated “demographic task force” of government authorities. 

She has also encouraged Russians to have five children each and trade cramped city apartments for larger, self-built homes.

Matviyenko’s push to legislate family life reflects a broader tendency by Russian authorities to dictate how citizens live, love, and identify – extending well beyond reproduction into other areas of personal and civil rights. 

A broader pattern of state control

Meanwhile, rights groups say Russia continues to violate international human rights law by restricting the rights of its LGBTIQ+ citizens, while also drawing scrutiny for forcibly recruiting residents into its armed forces, including in occupied Ukrainian territories.

Earlier in June, Russia introduced a “traditional values” visa scheme, reflecting how state-defined social values have become embedded in law and now function as a formal migration filter – more than 1,100 foreigners were granted entry in 2025 after declaring adherence to Kremlin-defined “spiritual and moral values.”

Russia’s surveillance of its own citizens’ opinions and social media activity has drawn criticism from rights groups, who point to it alongside strict internet controls as part of a pattern of tightening restrictions on privacy and expression.

Moscow has said its policies are intended to protect its population. Russia has lost at least 145,000 troops in 2026 alone in a war that has killed more than 707 Ukrainian children and displaced many more, according to Ukrainian officials.