These might sound ridiculous, but there are countries where citizens are being begged to make love by the Government.
1. Denmark.
The Danes have such a low fertility rate (around 1.73 children per woman) that a national travel company has come up with a series of bribes to get women to have more kids.
2. Russia.
According to Tech Insider, Russia is experiencing a sh!tstorm of anti-baby factors. HIV and alcoholism are rife, women aren’t having kids and men are dying young.
It all got so bad that in 2007, the government declared 12 September the official Day of Conception. where people get the day off for making babies.
Women who give birth exactly nine months later – on 12 June, win a fridge.
3. Japan.
We know that Japan is experiencing something of a dry spell. A 2011 survey found that 61% of unmarried men and 49% of women aged 18-34 weren’t in any kind of romantic relationship.
To try and get their young people creating families, scientists came up with Yotaro – a robot baby designed to give people a preview of parenthood. Students at the University of Tsukuba theorised that if young people could see themselves as potential mothers and fathers, they’d be more emotionally ready to settle down.
4. Romania
During communist times, if you weren’t providing future state labourers by having kids, you had to pay instead. There was a 20% income tax for childless couples, and in the 1980s, women were forced to take gynaecological exams to ensure that all pregnancies went to term.
Today, the fertility rate is still rock bottom.
5. Singapore
Singapore has the lowest fertility rate in the world, with just 0.81 children per woman.
They’ve also placed a limit on the number of small one beds available to rent to encourage cohabitation, and the government reportedly spends around $1.6 billion on various programmes to get people to have more sex.giphy
In fact, the government offers cash to people who have more than one child. Parents receive a ‘baby bonus’ of around $4,400 (£2,545) for their first two kids and $5,900 (£3,413) for their third and fourth.
6. South Korea
Offices turn off their lights at 7 pm on the third Wednesday of every month – AKA Family Day. Workers are encouraged to get themselves home so that they can enjoy some lights-out action.
7. India
While the general population of India is thriving, their Parsis community is slowly dwindling. And that’s lead to a number of questionable ads encouraging people to ‘Be responsible – don’t use a condom tonight’.
Other campaigns have shamed men living at home with lines like ‘Isn’t it time you broke up with your mum?’
Brutal but effective – there were just 61,000Parsis living in the country in 2001, and at the last census, there were 69,000.
8. Italy
You wouldn’t think somewhere as passionate as Italy would have a sex drought, but their fertility rate is below the European average.
So, the Italy has started running campaigns to remind Italians that time stands still for no (wo)man.
Lines include: ‘Beauty knows no age, fertility does,’ and ‘Get going! Don’t wait for the stork’.
9. Hong Kong
Inspired by Singapour, Hong Kong started giving out cash to couples to try and encourage them to have kids.
Alas, the plan never quite took off.
10. Spain
As employment rates are rising, fertility rates are dropping. Half of young people are out of work. And to combat the trend, the Spanish government have hired a special commissioner to try and reverse them.
