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Mark Steyn's brilliant and scary book America Alone tells of the demographic disaster that is threatening the extinction of Europe. Russia, for one, seems to have caught on:

ULYANOVSK, Russia (AP) — Make a baby. Win a car. Don’t be surprised if the streets are empty and curtains drawn in this central Russian region Wednesday as residents take up an offer by the regional governor to help stem Russia’s demographic crisis.

Ulyanovsk Gov. Sergei Morozov has decreed Sept. 12 a Day of Conception and is giving couples time off from work to procreate. Couples who give birth nine months later on Russia’s national day — June 12 — will receive money, cars, refrigerators and other prizes.

It’s the third year that the Volga River region, about 550 miles east of Moscow, has held the contest. Since then, the number of competitors — and the number of babies born — has been on the rise.