Course towards large families: at the National Centre RUSSIA, Tatyana Golikova named higher birth rates and longer life expectancy as the country’s key goals

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One of the state’s highest priorities remains increasing the birth rate, maintaining the positive trend towards the growth in the number of large families, preserving the population and raising life expectancy. Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Tatyana Golikova spoke about this during the programme "Platform of the Future: 100 Projects of Russia. Person". The event was held on 26 November at the National Centre RUSSIA.

"Population preservation is a key national goal set by the Head of State. All national projects and priorities we are implementing are aimed precisely at this goal. Today, however, we are speaking about person-centred national projects <...> These include the national projects "Family", "Personnel", "Long and Active Life" and "New Health Preservation Technologies". Each of them has its own set of tasks, yet they are united by one principle — preserving our country’s population. And of course, a central element here is increasing the birth rate and maintaining the positive trend towards the growth in the number of large families with many children. Today we can already say that more than 9 million children in Russia are being raised in large families," said Tatyana Golikova.

According to Tatyana Golikova, one of the key objectives linked to this national goal is raising life expectancy. This means accessible healthcare, timely and effective prevention, the development of high-tech medical care and ensuring technological sovereignty in a complex yet critically important field — healthcare.

"Family well-being also includes opportunities for shared leisure, which means developing cultural infrastructure. And an adult’s well-being directly depends on professional fulfilment, so it is vital for us to see and understand the trends in the labour market and respond to them in a timely manner," she said.

The Deputy Prime Minister added that the Year of the Family had once again proven that the family remains one of the highest values for Russian citizens. According to Tatyana Golikova, the government had been consistently building a comprehensive system of state support over the past years. And despite difficult periods, the state continued, step by step, to create and strengthen a full package of support measures for families — something that citizens have duly recognised, she noted.

"From 2026, working parents with two or more children will be able to receive an annual family tax payment. Like the unified allowance, the family payment will be granted on the basis of a single electronic application. The Social Fund will begin accepting applications once the tax declaration period is over — that is, from 1 June. If a family meets the criteria, the Social Fund will recalculate the tax at a rate of 6% and return the difference to the applicant. According to preliminary estimates, more than 4 million families will be able to benefit from this support," said Tatyana Golikova.

For many years, maternity capital has remained the country’s key demographic measure. According to the Deputy Prime Minister, this mechanism continues to be refined. To date, more than 15 million families have received maternity capital, and more than 14.6 million families have used it in one form or another. For the sixth consecutive year, maternity capital has been paid not only to families with a second child but also to those welcoming their first, she recalled. Families with a third child can receive 450,000 roubles to repay mortgage debt. In addition, the preferential family mortgage programme was also extended by the President until 2030in the same Address, added the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.

"The current approach implemented within the national projects, and above all within the national project "Family", is formulated very clearly: ‘one additional child in every family’. We are focused on supporting large families, because the core premise is simple — there must be more of us, more Russian citizens. And the housing remains key issue for people," continued Tatyana Golikova.

However, housing support measures require further adjustment, noted Tatyana Golikova. For this purpose, a working group has been established under the Ministry of Construction of Russia to shape a policy model that ensures uninterrupted assistance for families in solving housing issues. Daily household income also plays an important role: the support system has been developing since 2020, and since 2023, a unified targeted benefit — from pregnancy until a child reaches the age of 17 — has been in effect. It is issued on the basis of a single application and already covers around 9.5 million children. 

"At the same time, the situation varies across the regions. Therefore, following the instruction of the Head of State, we began implementing demographic programmes in 2023. In the Presidential Address, it was stated that those regions of the Russian Federation where the total fertility rate in 2023 fell below the national average would receive additional support annually until 2030 for measures aimed at helping families. A total of 12.5 billion roubles is being allocated to 41 regions so that they can introduce additional measures," explained Tatyana Golikova.

Minister of Labour and Social Protection of the Russian Federation Anton Kotyakov stated in his speech that another priority today is supporting participants of the special military operation, helping them adapt to civilian life. According to him, a personalised register of demobilised participants in the special military operation is being developed within the Social Fund. It contains the data required by executive authorities to work with each person individually.

"This register records information on assigned social support measures, employment, disability status, existing limitations — everything necessary to tailor the proposed solutions to the needs of a particular young man or woman. Today we are moving towards maximum simplification of procedures on the part of the state in order to ensure targeted support," explained Anton Kotyakov.

The Minister emphasised that the monthly cash payment for participants and veterans of combat operations is assigned automatically once the relevant status has been granted, with particular attention given to veterans with disabilities. He noted that participants receive free rehabilitation at the fund’s network of centres, taking into account individual needs, and from 2026 will be able to attend rehabilitation together with accompanying persons and use advance transport tickets.

Anton Kotyakov added that eight standards of comprehensive rehabilitation have been developed, covering social, professional, prosthetic and orthopaedic, cultural and sports domains. Starting from 2026, the social contract will become available to all participants of the special military operation to support personal projects or businesses. Around 50,000 participants of the special military operation and their family members have already found employment. The moderator of the meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister was Director General of the VCIOM Analytical Centre, Valery Fedorov. He reminded the audience that, according to the Decree of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin, the country is on its way towards achieving the national development goals. By 2030, he said, the country faces major work ahead, and the national projects — which consist of concrete actions delivering real results — will be the key instrument for achieving it.

"The state has national goals, and each of us has personal goals. Studying the aspirations of Russian citizens, we identified the key priorities: good health, a happy family, raising children, having reliable friends, doing what you love, and having meaningful work. In other words, personal goals coincide with the state’s goals. Nearly all of these components of personal happiness fall within the scope of the national goal ‘Preserving the population, strengthening public health and improving people’s well-being, supporting the family’," said Valery Fedorov.

A series of thematic programmes "Platform of the Future: 100 Projects of Russia" is held at the National Centre RUSSIA. They are dedicated to the national development goals set out in Presidential Decree No. 309.

Two more thematic meetings will take place before the end of the year. They will present major initiatives covering the social and infrastructure spheres, ecology, industry, the economy and culture. Presentations of the projects at the National Centre RUSSIA are delivered by their leaders and beneficiaries, as well as those who support the implementation of these initiatives.