MOSCOW, September 23 (RIA Novosti) - Speaker of the Federal Council, Russia's upper house of parliament, Sergei Mironov said Friday that Russia needed to introduce social monetary benefits for new families.
Mironov said raising a family was equally as demanding as having a profession, so the government should "introduce a 'family salary', or a sum to be paid to a woman, or, by the way, the father, the person who will be bringing up the child."
This comes on the heels of France's announcement Thursday of new state benefits for young families and their children.
Russian and western experts have been vocal over Russia's potentially devastating demographic crisis, which they say is expected to slash the country's population in 50 years, affecting labor, the economy, health and a host of other sectors.
Russian state coffers are bursting with revenue from skyrocketing oil prices, but many experts warn that too much government spending could raise inflation.
