Cool article relating to Population Unit

Hey everyone! I was watching the Colbert Report and he did a quick bit on this issue. I thought it was pretty funny and related to this class so I jumped online and found a few articles on it. I would have posted the video clip but I wasn't sure if posting Stephen Colbert was gonna be okay (Comedycentral.com should have the clip if you really wanna go looking for it. It's the Septmeber 20th episode and the "Threatdown" segment).

Also, I read in a shorter article on this that the region's birth rate has increased 4.5% from last year. So, go figure.

‘Make babies, win prizes,’ Russian province tells couples

Agence France-PresseLast updated 06:06pm (Mla time) 09/12/2007

ULYANOVSK, Russia -- Bureaucrats in Russia's Ulyanovsk province urged residents Wednesday to do their patriotic duty and make love, with prizes for anyone producing a child on the country's constitution day in exactly nine months.
The offbeat idea, dreamed up by Ulyanovsk Governor Sergei Morozov, has the serious aim of helping Russia stem a nationwide demographic crisis.
"Family Contact" day, dubbed "Conception Day" by locals, kicked off with parties in kindergartens, the first stage of an action-packed program promoting love, family and babies.
Morozov is already famous for awarding prizes, ranging from a television to a Russian-made all-terrain vehicle, to mothers who gave birth on Russia's Constitution Day on June 12.
"Give Birth to a Patriot on Russia Day," runs the governor's slogan.
President Vladimir Putin has made fixing Russia's ongoing population slump a national priority, signing a law granting mothers 250,000 rubles (about $9,555, or €7,000) for having a second child.
Russia's population has been rapidly declining for decades. The population was 149 million in 1992, just after the Soviet collapse, and is barely more than 142 million today -- a drop averaging 700,000 people a year.
Officials have trumpeted an increase in birth rates registered this year as a turnaround, with Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Monday promising that the country's population would rebound to 145 million by 2025.
Other demographers have argued that the emphasis on birth rates is misplaced, saying a larger problem is Russia's dismal life-expectancy, with men dying on average at 58 -- 16 years younger than in western Europe.
The Ulyanovsk drive is taking place for the third year, although this time the program has expanded dramatically, with dozens of events and many employers giving workers a day off to do their patriotic duty.
Procreation brochures have been distributed in schools, libraries and schools around the region.
"The purpose is to improve the demographic situation and support family values," a spokeswoman for the administration told Agence France-Presse ahead of the festivities.
The day of action was to end later in the evening with an exhibition, "Create a Family and Save Russia."
While next year's prizes have not been announced, authorities have promised that patriotic parents will be rewarded.
The tradition of awarding prizes for giving birth dates back to Soviet times, when women could be named "Hero Mothers" for having especially large families.
The city of Ulyanovsk, previously Simbirsk, located 900 kilometers (560 miles) east of Moscow has a special place in national mythology as it was named after the founder of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin, whose real surname was Ulyanov.