Do It for Mother Russia
Russia's declining birth rate is a bummer for Vladimir Putin. That's why he offered a bonus of 250,000 rubles to women willing to have a second child. At the current rate of exchange, that's about $4,000. Even in Russia, I doubt that's a sufficient amount of money to raise an entire child. Thanks, Putin!
Do It for Japan
Japan is also concerned about their lack of babies. One epidemiologist has suggested that if the birth rate doesn't increase, the Japanese people could be extinct in 1,000 years. To combat this, they built Yotaro. Yotaro is a robotic baby that's so awesome, that they hope it will encourage people to have real babies. Yotaro is essentially a balloon that mumbles, breathes, coughs, and looks kind of like a baby--if babies were terrifying, freakish, and haunted your nightmares. Personally, I think I'd rather raise the robot until it leaves for college.
Japan hasn't stopped there, though. The Japanese government has launched an online dating site called "Fukui Marriage-Hunting Café" which is exactly what it sounds like. The Fukui prefecture has a lot of what we used to call DINK households (double income, no kids). The director of Fukui's "Children and Family's division" reports that the government will hand out gifts and money to newlywed couples. The director stated, "Our goal is first to help people meet each other and then support them as they get married and have children." Happy spouse hunting, Japan!
Do It for Turkey
The Turkish government also thinks cold, hard cash is the way to inspire more baby making. They offer 300 lira for a couple's first child, 400 for the second, and 600 for the third—three being the Turkish government's minimum appropriate number of children for a family. They also support women returning to work part-time after giving birth. In Turkey, this means being paid a full-time wage despite putting in part-time hours. Cool, right?
