Russian women who do not want to have children will be referred to psychologists under new health ministry guidelines that were drawn up after the Kremlin outlawed what it called the “ideology of childlessness”.

Russia faces a deepening demographic crisis that has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.

Under the updated guidelines for reproductive health checks, doctors in Russia will ask women how many children they plan to have. If a woman replies that she does not intend to give birth, “it is recommended to send the patient to a consultation with a medical psychologist with the goal of forming a positive attitude towards having children”. The recommendation does not apply to men who have no desire to have children.

In 2024 there were 600,000 more deaths than births in Russia and birth rates fell to their lowest since President Putin came to power in 2000, according to Rosstat, the state statistics service. The current population is 146 million, according to official figures that some analysts suspect have been inflated. Forecasts suggest the country’s population could fall to 90 million or less by the end of the century.

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