Russians get day off to procreate, then win prizes
By The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 08/15/2007 12:42:25 AM MDT
Moscow - A Russian region of Ulyanovsk has found a novel way to fight the nation's birth-rate crisis: It has declared Sept. 12 the Day of Conception and for the third year running is giving couples time off from work to procreate.
The hope is for a brood of babies exactly nine months later on Russia's national day. Couples who "give birth to a patriot" during the June 12 festivities win money, cars, refrigerators and other prizes.
Ulyanovsk, about 550 miles east of Moscow, has held similar contests since 2005. Since then, the number of competitors, and the number of babies born to them, has been on the rise.
Russia, with one-seventh of Earth's land surface, has just 141.4 million citizens, making it one of the most sparsely settled countries in the world. With a low birth rate and a high death rate, the population has been shrinking since the early 1990s.
In his state-of-the-nation address last year, President Vladimir Putin called the demographic crisis the most acute problem facing Russia and announced a broad effort to boost Russia's birth rate, including cash incentives to families that have more than one child.
Ulyanovsk Gov. Sergei Morozov has added an element of fun to the national campaign.
The 2007 grand prize went to Irina and Andrei Kartuzov, who received a UAZ-Patriot, a sport utility vehicle. Other contestants won video cameras, TVs, refrigerators and washing machines.
I'm marking my calendar and putting a big red circle on September 12. Maybe I should use my new passport that I just got a few days ago, and take a trip to Russia next month. I'm not that old yet - I'm pretty sure I could still pop out a baby or two. And you know that I'm all about volunteering - what a great way this would be to help out the country formerly known as the U.S.S.R.!
I did some research, and found out that the life expectancy of men in Russia is 56 years. If this is the case, then I could go to Russia in a few weeks, find a rich old Russian man in his mid-fifties, have his baby, and inherit his fortune in rubels and win a refrigerator, too. Why, I would become the Russian version of Anna Nicole.
2 comments:
Just make sure you stick around long enough to spend all his money. I'd hate to have to extridite another billionaire baby to the 'Ville.
You'd best get your passport, Mamakinsdf, 'cause you're gonna have to come to Russia with me. You know I wouldn't be able to make it there without you.
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