Officials promote earlier marriage, note decrease in abortions

October 10, Pozirk. Officials and the Belarusian National Youth Union (BNYU) will join their efforts to encourage young people to marry earlier and become parents, Social Security Minister Valeryj Kavalkoŭ has told reporters in Minsk.
Surveys show that if a woman becomes a mother at 20–25, there is a 70–75-percent chance that “she will have the second and the third child,” Kavalkoŭ said. But if she gives birth at 35, she is unlikely to have a second and a third child.
Over the past 10 years, the average age of first-time mothers rose by more than three years to 27 at the end of 2023, the minister said.
BNYU Secretary Vieranika Hudkova supported what she described as traditional family values.
“We call on our young people to marry, to have children, to start families because demographic security is one of the foundations of Belarusian society,” she said.
Officials at the press conference also discussed abortion.
Doctors terminated 21,200 pregnancies in 2019 and 15,800 in 2023, according to the National Statistical Committee (Biełstat).
In recent years, Belarusian officials have often talk about what they call traditional values, criticizing Western values. The trend came from Russia, where officials banned foreigners from adopting children, introduced fines for abortion promotion and plan to ban the “child-free” ideology.
In December 2022, Council of the Republic Chairwoman Natalla Kačanava announced a bill to ban “LGBT propaganda,” citing Russian experience, as well as “family traditions and orthodoxy.” But legislation has not been drafted yet.
In February 2024, Prosecutor General Andrej Švied said that lawmakers drafted a bill to punish those caught promoting “nontraditional family relations” under the Code of Administrative Offenses.
- Economy, PoliticsBelarusian ambassador presents credentials to Brazil’s presidentThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsSweden’s new envoy meets with Belarus’ pro-democracy politician in WarsawThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsRights activists name 14 more political prisonersThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Society, Sport
- EconomyPolish border guards arrest three Belarusians on suspicion of cigarette smugglingThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- EconomyPoland speeds up cross-border truck traffic, Belarus reportsThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, SecurityBelarus joins CIS effort to tackle irregular migration amid migrant crisis with EUThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, Security
- Economy
- Security, Society
- SocietyPozirk's analyst among recipients of Voice of Freedom awardsThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsReprisals: more regime critics face high-treason, extremism-related chargesThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Society
- PoliticsŁatuška proposes making grand bargain with Minsk conditional on ending repression, migration crisis and war supportThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsCichanoŭskaja speaks of political prisoners at high-level dinnerThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsUCP leader Kazłoŭ says he fled Belarus because of surveillanceThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, Security, Society
- PoliticsUCP leader, after leaving Belarus vows to continue political activity abroadThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- EconomyŁukašenka calls for boosting ongoing projects with MordoviaThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsProsecutors forward to court case against ex-Kalinoŭski fighter ŠabuckiThe material is available only to POZIRK+