State Duma deputies propose to limit the issuance of maternity capital for the first-born child to the age of the mother (up to 25-30 years) or to emphasize the provision of payments to the second child. Representatives of the expert community also believe it is wrong to limit childbearing support to the age of the mother, the newspaper reported. “News”.
According to the publication, approaches will be taken into account in expanding the maternity capital program in 2026. According to the government of the Russian Federation and the State Duma, if the birth rate in the country continues to decline, therefore the country needs to somehow change its current approaches to providing subsidies for the birth of a child.
Experts generally criticized the MPs’ idea.
Vladimir Shchekin, developer of the RDD housing cluster, said that it would be a mistake to limit the age of a mother to receive maternity capital. In Russia, as in other developed countries, the average age at which a woman has her first child is increasing. He pointed out that the average age of young parents having their first child and buying a house is around 35, which is above the cutoff limit recommended by MPs.
Alexander Sinelnikov, professor at the Department of Sociology of Family and Demography at the Faculty of Sociology of Moscow State University, admitted that there is no need to limit the issuance of maternity capital by age, since today many women give birth after 30 years. According to him, the maternity capital program had a good impact on the birth rate until 2015. Then the number started to drop. There are several reasons for this, including the worsening economic situation.
Ruslan Syrtsov, general director of the Metrium company, noted that the deputies were guided by the fact that for women who gave birth at a late age for the first time, maternal capital does not stimulate the emergence of new large families. But even if life circumstances forced a woman to give birth for the first time in 30 or even 40 years, this should not be a reason for the lack of financial support.
Before that, political scientist Georgy Bovt stated“The demographic problems are too serious to be discredited by stupid proposals.”
Alexander Sinelnikov, formerly Professor of the Department of Family Sociology and Demography at the Faculty of Sociology of Moscow State University stated: “Russia will experience a “secondary repercussion” after the introduction of maternity capital; a possible increase in the birth rate.”