MOSCOW, May 10: In his speech President Vladimir Putin laid out measures to encourage Russians to have more babies, calling the unrelenting drop in population the country’s most serious problem.

Mr Putin proposed a three-pronged approach to solving the plunge in the population of this country that by territory is the largest in the world.

Reducing the mortality rate, increasing the birth rate and adopting an “effective” migration policy were the answer to the problem, he said.

“The most serious problem in contemporary Russia is demography,” Putin said, estimating that Russia’s population of just under 143 million people was falling by an average of 700,000 a year.

“We have raised this subject several times, but overall, little has been done,” Putin said.

Experts have long warned that Russia faces a demographic crisis that could ultimately threaten its ability to secure its borders and that is likely to encourage immigration from neighbouring China to the vast depopulated territories of Siberia.

Putin on Wednesday raised the prospect of devoting significantly more of the oil wealth accumulated in state coffers to solving the population problem.

Under a programme to be finalised by year’s end, state child benefit payments would be increased from 700 rubles (26 dollars) to 1,500 rubles (55 dollars) monthly for a first child under 18 months and to 3,000 rubles for a second child, he said.

More state funds would be spent on medical care for mothers, while women on maternity leave would receive up to 40 per cent of their previous salary from the state, Putin said.

Putin added that the population could be boosted with inflows of ethnic Russians from other ex-Soviet nations.

“It’s necessary to prioritise taking in our compatriots, educated people who respect the law, culture and national traditions,” he said.

Russia’s health ministry said in February that high male mortality rates and a low birth rate had caused the population to fall every year since 1993 and to drop by 5.8 million people over the last 12 years.

Average life expectancy in Russia is 58.8 years for men and 72 for women, while about 30 percent of Russian men die before retirement age.

In December, the World Bank said that the population decline was due to problems such as alcoholism, smoking, violence, poor diet and traffic accidents.

A health system overly focussed on fighting infectious diseases was failing when it came to dealing with major killers such as heart disease and cancer, the World Bank said in a report.

Putin’s comments got short shrift from a number of observers, who said it was primarily a campaign speech aimed at winning support for Kremlin policies ahead of parliamentary elections next year and a presidential election in 2008.—AFP