Putin's move for more children: women in Russia referred to psychologists

Doctors should ask how many children women want to have during health checkups, according to new national guidelines.

A woman who answers 'zero' is recommended to see a psychologist to “form a positive attitude toward having children,” according to the guidelines.

Russia's declining birth rate has long been one of President Vladimir Putin's biggest concerns, a problem exacerbated by Moscow's sending hundreds of thousands of young men to the war in Ukraine.

The country's birth rate is at a 200-year low: 1.4 children per woman - well below the 2.1 that demographers believe is necessary for a stable population.