A STARTLING POSITION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22250, 26 October 1935, Page 6 (Supplement)

A STARTLING POSITION

RUSSIA'S HIGH BIRTH RATE

4,500,000 INCREASE IN A YEAR MOTHERHOOD IN THE SOVIET BY CELI3 GBAY According to recent newspaper statistics the birth rate in several European countries, in spite of religious prejudices to birth-control and in spite of political propaganda, is steadily tailing. In New Zealand, with a population of a little over li millions, statistics show that this year's average of 1.64 per cent population of births is the lowest 011 record. Generally speaking, throughout the Empire tho birth rate appears to be on the decline; though in South African and Canada tho averages are slightly higher. The one " quasi-European " country whose Lirth rate is steadily on the increase is Egypt, with a ratio of 18.1 per thousand. Even in Germany, and especially in Italy, in spite of intensive political propaganda to the contrary —and in the latter country, in spite of religious restrictions —tho birth rate is 011 tho decline, there being nearly 48,000 more deaths than births in Fascist Italy for last year. Soviet Russia is the only country in tho West where tho birth rate is steadily and markedly on tho incline, last year increasing by over 4i millions. This steady increase in Russia's birth rate is one of paramount importance to other European nations in particular, and to the world in general, for Russia constitutes roughly one-fifth of Europe's entire population. An Equal Chance in Life

The Soviet's hist figures are due to several factors, foremost among which ii their concentrated on the ■womanhood of the nation. Whatever may ho one's objections to this Communist country, tho observer can have nothing hut praise for tho way in which the Soviet authorities have handled the question of the appalling infantile death rato existent prior to the 1917 revolution. Until tho war period, the infant mortality rate was roughly a little over 33 1-3 per cent of the total births, whilo in some of the country districts it was no less than 90 per cent. Motherhood in Russia to-day is regarded as the highest duty to tho State, but it must be completely voluntary. Moreover, nowhere in the world is motherhood given such practical assistance as in Russia. Even the U.S.A., with all its modernisation, has no legalised protection of motherhood; while Soviet Kussia is the only civilised country in the world to recognise no difference between children born in wedlock and " illegitimates " —every Russian child comes into the world with an equality of status and an equal chance in life. Clinics for the protection and assistance of mothers and children are established in all the cities and on most of the collective and cooperative farms and they are penetrating rapidly into the more remote country districts. In these clinics the mothers are, given all the advice that the latest modern medical research can offer. Those who can afford to do so contribute into a general fund on a graduated wages' tax: but no woman, no matter how poor she is, is ever refused assistance —to the Soviet, all potential mothers are not only equal, but are an asset to the State. V- Modern Oare v. Past Neglect In Tsarist time the State paid no attention whatever to maternity, and in all Russia there were only six infant welfare centres, these being established mainly through foreign benignity; .while in 1918, one year after the revolution, there were already several hundred such centres. In both Moscow and Leningrad is a State Scientific Institute for the Protection of Mothers and Infants, both of which deal with all questions concerning tho physiology and pathology of women and children.

Here minute scientific research is carried out; the feeding, care and clothing of children are studied practically; provision is made for the training of proper assistants, midwives and teachers; and the State provisions for motherhood' protection excel all welfare arrangements in other countries. Attached to the various branches of the Soviet clinics are the # " judicial consultation" centres, wherein is given free legal advice. After the birth of the child, mother and infant attend regularly at the local clinic, and the child, if desired, _is entered in the creche attached either to the welfare centre or to the factory where the woman is employed. There it receives free attention until three years of age, when it goes to a State kindergarten. Although this is but a very brief outline of State interest in Russian motherhood, it is obvious that under «uch scientific regime the infant mortality would naturally be greatly reduced; a sane motherhood is encouraged—consequently the children bom are healthy and happy; and consequently, also, the Soviet birth rate shows a marked increase over that of any other civilised country.