Opinions & Interviews

Lukashenko on Western childfree trend: Such ideology must be outlawed

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MINSK, 31 March (BelTA) - Any popularization of the ideas of childfree families in our information and cultural space should be ruled out, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he delivered his annual Address to the Belarusian people and the National Assembly on 31 March, BelTA has learned.

According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, demographic security is not just a matter of economic measures. There are factors that negate all the efforts of the state to create favorable conditions for population growth. They should be on the radar of the information policy, culture, education and healthcare. The first factor is the Western childfree trend.

“Any popularization of the ideas of childfree families in our information and cultural space should be suppressed,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “Any such veiled appeals, as well as all non-traditional trends, is nothing but an attempt to depopulate and weaken the state. No less. Such ideology should be outlawed. We have raised children who were provided with everything they needed, and now they want to live for themselves, choosing not to have kids for as long as possible. Not all of them, but the trend is there, and it is dangerous. The paradigm of such thinking should be altered.”

According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, there are things that young people simply cannot understand due to their age. “But we, the older generation, can and must explain to them that life success and experience are meaningless when there is no one to pass them on to, that the wealth will not replace the happiness of seeing your family going on. We must explain this before we realize that it is too late for them to plan a childbirth.”

The president also stressed the need to break the ‘career or family’ stereotype. “All necessary conditions have been created in the country for a woman to realize herself as a mother and as a professional. There are such examples. Last year we introduced Father's Day to emphasize that the head of the household plays an important role and not only as a breadwinner,” he concluded.

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