Children make up one-fifth of Russian population - Golodets
MOSCOW. May 31 (Interfax) - One in five residents in Russian is a child, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said.
"Today there are 28 million children in Russia. Their numbers is rising, accounting for 19.5% from the total population number," according to a statement posted on the Russian government website on Tuesday.
Such are the data cited by Golodets at a meeting of the presidential coordination council in charge of implementation of the 2012-2017 national action strategy for children held at the Kremlin earlier on Tuesday, the statement said.
The deputy prime minister also noted an increase rise in birth rates nationwide.
"Last year, we had 1,944,000 births, which is a huge achievement, primarily, of the motherhood support policy," she said.
Russia is successfully implementing the maternity capital program which the government has decided to extend until 2018, she recalled. Lump-sum payments from the maternity capital have already been received by nearly two million people.