The Moldovan Orhtodox Church supports higher birth rates! The bishop vows to baptize every fourth child in families.

They will be baptized for free by the Mitropolitan bishop of Moldova, Vladimir. The church wants to increase birth rates across the country.

The first christening of this initiative has been on Saturday. A boi named Matei, the son of a dean, was baptized at a monastery in Chisinau.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2015, over 38 thousand children  were born, the birth rate being slightly up compared to 2014.

However, the total fertility rate in Moldova remains low, registering up to 1.3 births per woman.