Practical work is needed to promote happy two-parent families with many children, Minsk Oblast Governor Boris Batura said at a session of the executive committee to discuss the state of efforts to implement the demographic security program in Minsk Oblast in 2011-2015, BelTA has learnt.
“I have to admit that there is no specific targeted work to improve the prestige of a happy two-parent family that brings up many children and where the parents are officially married. We have not launched the campaign to promote family values,” Boris Batura said. The work is going on, but has made little headway, the Minsk Oblast Governor said.
The governor reminded that a year ago a decision was made to approach the demographic security program as the major regional project. “However, it has not become such a project for all the stakeholders responsible for it. There are some positive developments in the demographic situation in Minsk Oblast. The birthrate is increasing, however, so is the population decline,” he noted. The death rate remains high and stands at 15.1 deaths per 1,000 people (the penultimate position in the country). As for the life expectancy at birth (71 years), Minsk Oblast is at the very bottom of the ranking.
Rural population is also declining in all the districts of Minsk Oblast, except for Minsk District. People are leaving rural communities. Seven districts posted reduction in the birth rate; the mortality rate in rural communities is higher than that in urban communities 1.8 times.
