The family in Russia is hit by a profound crisis. The age of people that marry for the first time is approaching 30 years, while the number of children born in new families is on the decline.
Lagging behind industrialized countries in economic growth, Russia is catching up with them in adverse family statistics. According to the State Statistics Committee, the average age of newly weds in the urban area is about 28 years (29 for men and 27 for women). In the early 1990s this age was between 21 and 24 years. However, the situation has changed little in the countryside and in regions with a Muslim population, where people marry at the age of 22 to 23.
Opinion polls have revealed that so-called trial marriages, which are not officially registered and involve no legal obligations, are becoming popular among young people aged between 18 to 25.
Over the past decade the number of divorces has increased considerably. At present there are 600 divorces per 1,000 marriages. And 38% of them break up less than in four years after marriage.
Understandably, this affects the birthrate in the country. The birthrate statistics say there are 13 children per 10 women of a childbearing age. This concerns birthrate in general and not only in families - every fifth child is born in extramarital conditions. Evidently this figure would have been greater, if it were not for abortions - two abortions per one childbirth.
Besides, every tenth married couple of a childbearing age is sterile, and in half of the cases it is men that are sterile. The birthrate drop is caused, among other things, by the worsened health condition of pregnant women and newborns. Every third woman recently confined suffers from anemia that is mainly caused by malnutrition. Only 30% of children are born in good health.
Child mortality statistics are appalling, as before. The child mortality rate in Russia is very high compared with other countries. More than 25 children per 1,000 of newborns die before they reach the age of one year, while in the U.S. this figure is 10, in France it is 8, and 5 in Japan. The cause of this disastrous situation lies in poor medical service, because children often die of ordinary pneumonia and gastric infectious diseases rather than from some "exotic" illnesses.
The explanation of this situation is pretty simple - it is the increasing popularity of the consumer society standards in a situation of poverty. The first reason (consumer society standards) predetermines the lowering of a material independence level even before marriage, which for this reason is getting increasingly late. The second one (low material well-being of young people associated with unemployment) accounts for the low birthrate and a high proportion of extramarital children.
That the number of people in the family depends on its well-being is confirmed by available statistics. Last year the average per capita available resources (the term includes not only a money income, but also payment of allowances, the use of benefits, and available foodstuffs obtained from a personal subsidiary plot) were 2,008 rubles per head in a family with a single child; 1,567 rubles in a family with two children (96%); with three children, 1,241 rubles (76%); and with four or more children, 767 rubles (47%).
At the same time the social status of families with many children has notably gone down. The state's assistance to such families is declared but not provided. In reality, in many cases a large number of children in a family is a sign of poor well-being. Every tenth child registered with the juvenile delinquency departments at police stations is from a family with many children.
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