Declining birth rates are a global trend, but there is often an ideological dimension to pronatalism, says this Aberystwyth University international politics lecturer. ABERYSTWYTH, United Kingdom: In some parts of Russia, schoolgirls who become pregnant are being paid more than 100,000 roubles (about US$1,270) for giving birth and raising their babies. This new measure, introduced in the past few months across 10 regions, is part of Russia’s new demographic strategy, widening the policy adopted