‘A waste of money’. Some Russian regions are giving payments to pregnant schoolgirls. Not everyone thinks it’s the right move.

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Between February and May 2025, more than 10 Russian regions introduced one-time payments for pregnant schoolgirls, ostensibly to support young mothers and boost demographic growth. But the policy has drawn a mixed response from both the public and government officials. The independent outlet Glasnaya examined how common teenage pregnancy is in Russia and spoke to a demographer, psychologist, doctor, and a historian to better understand what impact the policy might have and why it makes many people deeply uneasy. Meduza shares an abridged translation of the outlet’s reporting.

More than 10 Russian regions are now providing one-time payments of 100,000 rubles (about $1,300) to pregnant schoolgirls who register with state-run maternity clinics. New government decrees formalizing the payments have been issued in the Oryol, Kemerovo, Yaroslavl, Voronezh, Tver, Kaluga, Kaliningrad, and Leningrad regions, as well as in the Chuvash Republic and the Altai Krai. In the Bryansk region, pregnant students will receive 150,000 rubles (about $1,900). Another four regions have introduced similar payments for students in vocational schools that accept applicants after ninth grade.

Experts interviewed by Glasnaya say these measures appear to serve multiple purposes. One of which, according to demographer Salavat Abylkalikov, is to provide support to young women facing difficult circumstances.

“There is, in my view, a genuine element of social support here,” Abylkalikov says. “A very young mother is in a vulnerable position, and the more help she receives, the better. That’s why I find the Oryol governor’s explanation — that this is just one more form of assistance for people in tough situations — fairly convincing.”

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The outlet 7x7 has calculated that at least 40 regions in Russia now offer payments to college students for their first pregnancy. According to a Moscow-based OB-GYN who spoke to Glasnaya on condition of anonymity, extending those benefits to schoolgirls is largely about standardizing the law.

“Full-time college students have already been receiving this payment for some time, but it didn’t apply to those still in school. Legally, it needed to be equalized, because they’re in the exact same social category,” the doctor explains.

The OB-GYN emphasizes that the benefit is intended for those who were already planning to carry their pregnancies to term. “It’s not as if this will lead to girls dropping out of school en masse to get pregnant and give birth,” the doctor says.

The payment is only granted after a certain point in pregnancy — beyond the legal time frame for elective abortion. In Voronezh, for instance, the benefit is issued only after 12 weeks; in Yaroslavl, after 22.

According to the most recent figures from the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) on teen pregnancy, 22,265 babies were born in 2023 to girls in Russia between the ages of 12 and 18. Of those, 1,993 were second, third, fourth, or even fifth children.

The payment may be especially significant in regions where 100,000 rubles remains a substantial sum. “Circumstances vary,” the doctor says. “A boyfriend might have to leave — for example, to fulfill a contract somewhere. In a case like that, a pregnant girl who’s still studying and unlikely to be financially independent could really use that money. For some, it’s a way to buy warm clothing or boots to dress for the weather. It could also help pay for fruit and vitamins so the baby develops properly in utero.”

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A Soviet legacy

Russians are divided on the new payments for pregnant schoolgirls. According to a recent poll by the state-owned VTsIOM research center, 43 percent of respondents support the policy, while 40 percent oppose it. At the same time, a large majority — 74 percent — disapprove of having children before the age of 18.

Nina Ostanina, who heads the State Duma’s Committee on Family Issues, has also spoken out against encouraging childbirth among minors. “Children should be in school, getting a proper education. We shouldn’t be incentivizing them to become parents,” she said.

In her view, regional authorities had “misinterpreted” guidance from the Labor Ministry, which had recommended introducing a benefit for pregnant women “studying full-time.” While offering money to “encourage” teen pregnancy is, in her view, a bad idea, Ostanina added that the state shouldn’t abandon young expectant mothers either.

Historian Ella Rossman, who studies girlhood, says teenage pregnancy is not widely accepted in Russian society. That stigma, she explains, is rooted in the Soviet era, when youth policy experts viewed early pregnancy as immoral and shameful — but also believed that girls in such situations deserved empathy and support.

During the Stalinist period, the subject of teen pregnancy was taboo. But by the 1960s, Rossman says, Soviet educators had begun encouraging a more open, understanding tone when speaking with young people. One example she points to is a 1964 article from Literaturnaya Gazeta, titled Six Conversations on a ‘Forbidden Topic.’ In the piece, a Soviet health official, a school principal, and a psychologist respond to a letter from a doctor whose high school patient has become pregnant.

“The doctor asks what she should do — whether she should break doctor–patient confidentiality,” Rossman explains. “And the response is: young pregnancy is, of course, a serious problem and an extreme situation, but the issue isn’t the girl — it’s the lack of sex education among young people and the absence of proper guidance from educators. The girl herself should be supported.”

“Ostanina’s phrasing — that young mothers should be supported, but early pregnancy shouldn’t be encouraged — is very Soviet,” Rossman says. “If you look at that 1964 article, everyone in it is essentially saying the same thing.”

In her view, the split between officials who encourage early pregnancy and those who condemn it is no accident. “This clash highlights just how contradictory the ideological and practical principles guiding Russia’s policies on family, reproduction, and demographics really are,” she says.

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Russia’s ‘demographic menu’

One example of the contradictions in Russia’s demographic policy, according to demographer Salavat Abylkalikov, is the state’s growing emphasis on encouraging women to have their first child between the ages of 18 and 29.

That push, he explains, is rooted in a pseudoscientific belief popular among government officials that having a first child at a younger age increases the likelihood of having a second or third child later on. “But this simplistic model ignores the complex social and economic realities people face,” Abylkalikov says.

In today’s Russia, he notes, most young people complete their education, enter the workforce, and achieve basic financial independence around the age of 24 or 25. In 2023, the average age at which Russian women had their first child was 26 — and that number continues to rise, edging toward 29. This postponement of childbirth reflects a broader global pattern.

If a young woman drops out of school to give birth, she risks falling into what Abylkalikov calls a “poverty trap” — relying on social assistance while struggling to provide for herself and her child. At the same time, society loses a potential skilled worker and gains additional strain on its healthcare and welfare systems. “A family that experiences serious financial hardship after having a first child is far less likely to go on to have more,” he says.

These new pregnancy-related payments for students are part of what the Russian government has dubbed its “demographic menu,” a package of policy options introduced in 2025 that regional governments can choose from and implement in hopes of “effectively addressing demographic challenges.”

But in practice, Abylkalikov says, the “menu” is largely symbolic. In the wake of a new national demographic strategy adopted in March 2025, local and federal officials are scrambling for “any means — no matter how unconventional — to try to move the needle.”

In that context, offering a lump-sum payment for a first birth is a convenient tool that’s both easy to implement and easy to cite in a report.

Still, such measures won’t meaningfully contribute to the long-term goals outlined in the new demographic strategy. The plan aims to raise Russia’s total fertility rate (TFR) to 1.6 births per woman by 2026 and to 1.8 by 2036. In 2023, the rate stood at a “critically low” 1.41. For simple population replacement, a rate of 2.05 is needed, Abylkalikov notes.

Reaching that target, he says, would require significantly increased public investment in family support. In 2017, family-related spending made up about one percent of Russia’s GDP. By 2020, it had dropped to between 0.5 and 0.8 percent. To reverse the trend in fertility, the government would need to raise that share to at least two to three percent — levels seen in OECD countries with the most successful family policies, such as France, Hungary, and the Nordic states, he explains.

A more effective approach, Abylkalikov argues, would be to focus resources on supporting women who want to have a second or third child. In 2024, 75 percent of all third and subsequent births in Russia were to women between the ages of 30 and 40. For that reason, he says, one-time payments for first-time mothers are, in the long run, “a waste of money.”

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‘The stress is doubled’

Teen pregnancies in Russia often stem from a lack of comprehensive sex education, both at school and at home, says Alexandra Ivanova, a psychologist with the anti-domestic violence advocacy group Nasiliu.Net (“No to Violence”) and head of the psychological support center Mart. Children aren’t taught about consent, she says, or about the consequences of sex. There are cases, she adds, where a partner refuses to use a condom, and the girl, for any number of reasons, feels unable to insist.

“Many kids don’t understand their own physiology or what kinds of contraception exist,” Ivanova explains. “There’s a serious gap in sex education — not about how to have sex, but about how to say no to it.”

Even in planned pregnancies, having a baby is a major source of stress, says Ivanova. “It turns your life upside down. And for a teenage girl, that stress is doubled because her body and brain aren’t fully developed.”

Unlike adults, who can draw on life experience, emotional regulation, and social resources, teenagers generally don’t have those tools, Ivanova explains. In these cases, the responsibility of being the “reliable adult” often falls to the girl’s parents — and not just informally, but legally. Until the minor becomes fully legally competent, the state appoints a guardian for her child. In most cases, that guardian is the young mother’s own mother, explains the OB-GYN.

Adult involvement is also required much earlier in the process. As the OB-GYN points out, Russian law requires doctors to inform a parent or legal guardian when a minor is pregnant, and girls under 16 cannot legally decide to have an abortion without informed parental consent.

Still, medical confidentiality applies regardless of age — even if a teenager chooses to terminate the pregnancy. “Doctors don’t ask who the father is or how old he is,” the OB-GYN says. “The prosecutor’s office might, but only if there’s a criminal investigation into rape. Only in that case can law enforcement demand access to medical records.”

Ivanova emphasizes that with unconditional support from her parents — and ideally from the child’s father — a teenage mother can have a positive experience. She recalls one case from her practice of a girl who gave birth, finished school, enrolled in college, and managed to juggle her studies and parenting with her family’s help. The baby’s father was also an involved partner, though the romantic relationship had ended.

“There was a lot of acceptance in that family,” Ivanova says. “They offered her support instead of judgment. And because of that, she was able to continue growing up herself while caring for a child.”

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