Is the RW surplus over?
Last year, Russia put into law a new monetary incentive for Russians to turn the corner on their upside-down population demographics. To date it has been very successful with births up 6.5% over 2006 levels. A side effect of this is that it will be more difficult to find a Russian Woman that will want to leave Russia.
As most know, Russia has re-consolidated key industrial sectors under the control of the State. In particular are the energy companies, which have given back considerable economic wealth and power. With these resources at hand, Russia has embarked on several measures to address the growing social problems in their country. Perhaps most critical is the declining birth rate of the past decades.
Early in 2007 Putin had signed in a new law that gives RW a major incentive to have a second child. This financial incentive gives the mother 250,000 rubles (~$10,000) that she can use toward the babies needs in a number of defined ways, which are tied to the Russia. Results of the 2007 birth rate show that RW are taking advantage of this incentive.
So what does this have to do with the RW quest? The aim of the Russian government is to bolster their sagging demographics. How are they to defend a country with less and less citizens each year. The secondary effect is the creation of more Russian families (both married or not). This anchors the RW to Mother Russia in order to collect their due and effectively takes them off the foreign fiancé market. Though the numbers are small on a percentage basis, it can have a big effect on the overall picture.
It is likely that many of the 2007 second borns are from existing families. If this is true, then the numbers of RW that are competing for a foreign husband will have been little affected. Regardless, this new incentive gives single RW a more solid reason to place their hopes on a Russian family. This will be especially true in lower income and lower opportunity areas outside Moscow and Saint Petersburg where 250,000 rubles will go far.
Bottom line is that the elusive and enigmatic RW has become more difficult to catch. If she is from a village to medium size city or makes below low average wages in a low cost of living area, she now has a very lucrative incentive to stay her ground.
All good things come to an end. The end is far from over, however this is one drop of many in the last few years. This incentive alone will not offset the tens of millions of singles RW, but it will give them greater pause to think more before considering the foreign husband option.
Ronin
More reading: You Don't Have Forever to Find a RW (RW the Real Truth Blog, added 01/08)
Russian Brides Cause Nationalist Panic (Pytheas Online article 6/05, added 02/08)
Last edited on Tuesday June 10th, 2008 08:05 pm by ronin1
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