Russian President Vladimir Putin is demanding that women in his country have “seven, eight or more” children to boost the population.

He warned that this is needed to prevent “catastrophic demographic problems” that could impact the country’s economy.

Speaking via video link at the World Russian People’s Council on Tuesday, he said: “Many of our peoples maintain the tradition of the family, where four, five or more children are raised. Recall that in Russian families our grandmothers and great-grandmothers had both 7 and 8 children. Let us preserve and revive these traditions.

“Having many children, a large family, should become a norm, a way of life for all the people of Russia. A family is not just the foundation for state and society, it is a spiritual phenomenon, the source of morality.”

Putin himself reportedly has six children with three partners, but only publicly acknowledges his two daughters.

His comments come as Russia‘s population fell by 550,000 during first year of the […]