Russia's lower house of parliament voted unanimously on Tuesday to ban what authorities cast as pernicious propaganda for a child-free way of life, hoping to boost a faltering birth rate. Official data released in September put the birth rate at its lowest in a quarter of a century while mortality rates are up as Moscow's war in Ukraine rages on.

Russian MPs on Tuesday passed in the final third reading controversial legislation banning "propaganda" of choosing not to have children, the latest measure targeting what Moscow depicts as Western liberal ideas.