The Russian government is planning to set up a Ministry of Sex to deal with the falling birth rate in the country.

Putin-loyalist Nina Ostanina, 68, chairwoman of the Russian parliament’s committee on Family Protection, Paternity, Maternity and Childhood, is scrutinising a petition demanding such a move, reported Mirror.

Russian government officials are coming up with weird proposals to combat the challenge of declining demographics in the country.

One unusual proposal that has been made is to stop the internet and turn off the lights between 10pm and 2am to encourage couple to have sex.

Another idea is for the state to pay stay-at-home women raising children for doing housework, and to include this in their pension calculations. One more notion is that the state should pay for first dates - up to the value of 5,000 roubles [£40], reported Mirror.

Another proposal is that public cash should fund wedding nights in hotels for couples up to a value of 26,300 roubles [£208] in the hope this stimulates pregnancies.

It is still not clear who initiated the proposal of setting up the Ministry.

Several regions in the country have initiated their plans to encourage couples to have children.

Female students in Khabarovsk region aged 18 to 23 are to be paid £900 on the birth of a child under a new initiative, reported Mirror.

In Chelyabinsk, students will be paid £8,500 for the birth of their first child.