Marriage and divorce statistics are one of the most important social indicators. Since many factors influence the formation and dissolution of families, values of marriage and divorce can be used to assess the state of society. For Russia, this statistics is most relevant, because in the last 10 years the number of divorces has practically not decreased, and there have been much fewer marriages - the institution of the family has cracked somewhere. See for yourself:
| Year | Marriages, thousands | Divorces, thousand | Marriages per 1,000 population | Divorces per 1,000 population |
| 2000 | 897,3 | 627,7 | 6,2 | 4,3 |
| 2010 | 1215,1 | 639,3 | 8,5 | 4,5 |
| 2017 | 1049,7 | 611,4 | 7,1 | 4,2 |
| 2018 | 893 | 583,9 | 6,1 | 4 |
| 2019 | 950,2 | 620,7 | 6,5 | 4,2 |
The source of information in this article is Rosstat, and we immediately have to warn you that data on marriages/divorces is delayed by a couple of years - we will use information for 2017-2019, there are very few statistics for 2021 and 2021.
Marriage statistics in Russia
Average age of marriage in Russia
We can definitely say that marriages are “aging.” Table of marriages by years of marriage (numbers – number of people):
| Year | Total marriages | Groom - under 18 years old | Groom – from 18 to 24 years old | Groom – from 25 to 34 years old | Groom – over 35 years old | Bride - under 18 years old | Bride – from 18 to 24 years old | Bride – from 25 to 34 years old | Bride – over 35 years old |
| 2000 | 897327 | 3703 | 403851 | 303216 | 186133 | 29889 | 511446 | 212528 | 143193 |
| 2010 | 1215066 | 1131 | 372782 | 564776 | 276219 | 11698 | 554772 | 451318 | 197162 |
| 2017 | 1049735 | 556 | 199294 | 547631 | 302254 | 5886 | 334893 | 465798 | 243158 |
| 2018 | 893039 | 454 | 170440 | 456639 | 265506 | 4593 | 285580 | 386652 | 216214 |
| 2019 | 950167 | 564 | 177912 | 469220 | 302389 | 5141 | 296984 | 395684 | 252276 |
Marriages without data on the age of the bride/groom (about 100) were not included in the detailed count. Structure of marriages by age for 2019, infographics:
As you can see, grooms are usually older than brides - grooms under 18 years old are not even visible on the infographic, brides are visible, albeit in a small stripe. Age more or less evens out only closer to 35 years old; in the group of 18-35 years old it often happens that a man is significantly older than a woman.
Connection with pregnancies
Alas, it is not possible to understand how pregnancy affects a couple’s final decision to get married - it would be at least unethical to go around among the respondents and ask them: “Did you get married for love or for luck?” But in 2021, a lot of statistics were collected in Moscow and other cities, and one of the questions that was asked to respondents: “When, in your opinion, should you get married?” Results (as a percentage of the total number of respondents):
| In what cases, in your opinion, should a marriage be registered? | First marriage | Remarriage | ||
| You need to sign if you are already pregnant | You need to sign if the child is already born | You need to sign if you are already pregnant | You need to sign if the child is already born | |
| Women | 1,6 | 0,8 | 6,1 | 2,6 |
| Men | 2,7 | 0,9 | 5,9 | 3,2 |
Thus, it can be assumed that about 2% of first marriages and about 6% of second marriages took place when pregnancy occurred.
Second marriages
First marriage, second marriage and subsequent marriages by year (as a percentage of the total number of respondents):
| Age (years) | Women | Men | ||
| first marriage | not the first marriage | first marriage | not the first marriage | |
| up to 25 | 96,0 | 4,0 | 93,6 | 6,4 |
| 25-29 | 89,4 | 10,6 | 93,5 | 6,5 |
| 30-34 | 78,9 | 21,1 | 90,1 | 9,9 |
| 35-39 | 80,3 | 19,7 | 79,1 | 20,9 |
| 40 and older | 73,6 | 26,4 | 75,7 | 24,3 |
Note that these statistics also include civil marriages - a situation in which spouses consider themselves as such, but do not have an official signature.
Young Family program in 2020
In 2011, the government of the Russian Federation approved Resolution N 1050 (Federal Target Program “Housing”), within the framework of which new units of society receive state support when purchasing living space. Later, government decree N889 of August 25, 2020 was approved on the extension of the “Young Family” state housing program for 5 years.
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You can also become a participant in the housing program in 2021 after applying online through the State Services website or an MFC branch. In this case, the status of the application can be tracked directly on the website in the “applications” section or directly in the MFC building. Authorities are required to respond to the application within 10 days.
Divorce statistics in Russia
Let us immediately warn you that divorce in Russia is poorly studied, despite the seriousness of the problem. We will provide data taken from other studies (based on unpublished Rosstat data), but some data will be incomplete or quite old.
Divorces by number of children
There are no statistics on the number of children in divorces; there are only general statistics on divorces of families with children up to 2013:
| Year | Total number of divorces, thousand | Divorces with children, thousands | % of divorces with children from all divorces | How many children does a divorced family have on average? |
| 2003 | 798 | No data | 57,1 | 1,191 |
| 2004 | 635 | No data | 56,5 | 1,211 |
| 2005 | 604 | No data | 56,4 | 1,191 |
| 2006 | 640 | No data | 56,7 | 1,181 |
| 2007 | 685 | No data | 55,4 | 1,201 |
| 2008 | 703 | No data | 53,7 | 1,201 |
| 2009 | 699 | No data | 50,5 | 1,201 |
| 2010 | 639 | No data | 50,5 | 1,211 |
| 2011 | 669 | No data | 47,8 | 1,231 |
| 2012 | 644 | 254 | 39,5 | 1,252 |
| 2013 | 668 | 263 | 39,3 | 1,282 |
From this information it can be understood that, starting in 2012, the percentage of divorces in families with children has decreased significantly - from 47% to 39%. At the same time, the number of divorces in families with 2 children increased - in 2013 the number of children per divorce was 1,282, in 2010 - 1,211.
Initiators of divorces
There are no official statistics on divorce initiators from Rosstat, but there is a Russian study dated 2014 (sample – 1,600 respondents). It says that the initiators of divorce are most often women, and the presence of a child greatly increases the chances: in families with children, women initiated divorce in 71% of cases, in childless families, women initiated divorce in 63% of cases.
What factors influence the decision?
In the ranking of factors that reduce the chance of divorce, children are in the lead - if they are present, spouses are much less willing to divorce. Another important factor included in the list is the length of the marriage; with a marriage of 6+ years, the number of divorces begins to decrease.
Divorce statistics during a pandemic
In the first half of 2021, the number of divorces decreased by 35% - from 297 thousand to 220 thousand. It’s funny that in July 2021, when the quarantine was completely lifted and the threat of coronavirus receded into the background, the number of divorces sharply returned to “normal.”
Young Family Program 2020-2020
- Documents of ownership of real estate purchased or built using mortgage loan funds, or a construction contract and other papers that confirm payments for the construction of a residential building, if it was not completed at the time of filing the application (copies).
- A copy of the loan agreement and a document confirming the need to improve the family’s living conditions at the time of its conclusion.
- A certificate from the lender about the amount of the debt balance and interest on the loan.
Today in our country there are a large number of very diverse and different programs, each of which is characterized by its own specific features. One of these is the Young Family 2020-2020 program, which is worth paying special and close attention to, since, according to experts and analysts, it is good and excellent support in acquiring long-awaited square meters on especially favorable terms. But now we’ll find out why she’s really attractive.
What is being done to reduce the number of divorces in the country
In general, there are some problems with this - the state is not that much concerned about the issue. The only serious step that has been taken in this direction is preferential mortgage lending for families with children (maternity capital can also be considered a plus). The survey shows how effective these measures are (numbers are expressed as a percentage of the total number of respondents):
| What child was born? | Have the measures introduced by the state to support young and large families helped you? | |||
| Yes, we used to delay conception, but support from the state gave us confidence | Yes, before that we wanted a child, but could not afford it financially | No, it didn't help | I find it difficult to answer | |
| Women | ||||
| First | 16,3 | 11,5 | 55,8 | 16,4 |
| Second | 28,6 | 15,6 | 44,0 | 11,7 |
| Third | 29,3 | 19,5 | 39,3 | 11,9 |
| Men | ||||
| First | 16,1 | 12,7 | 54,6 | 16,6 |
| Second | 25,2 | 14,3 | 46,2 | 14,2 |
| Third | 25,3 | 14,3 | 45,3 | 15,1 |
State program young family in 2020
under a social tenancy agreement), but the living space for each resident is less than the established (accounting) standard; The accounting standard for living space, below which a family is defined as needy, varies in the regions of Russia, but on average is 10-14 square meters. meters per person.
The “Young Family” program is designed for those who meet the prescribed age, social status and financial conditions provided for participants in the federal project to help newlyweds, or families with small children. After it existed for 4 years, the Government of the Russian Federation considered it appropriate to extend it and further develop it as a successful measure to improve the demographic situation.
Forecasts and our opinion
The forecast for marriages and divorces is doubtful. We have already shown above that Russia has problems with the institution of the family - there are many marriages, many divorces, and approximately half of the families break up. Our opinion is that if nothing global happens, the situation will worsen until it reaches the real median. The state could help in this matter, and it is trying to do this with the help of preferential mortgages and maternity capital, but, as the survey above showed, these methods do not help half of the families at all. Most likely, the situation will begin to improve when the economic situation in Russia improves - no matter what moralistic speeches about the institution of family and spirituality important people say, marriages are most often concluded with the goal of building a family with children, and children are significant expenses and state benefits these costs cannot be covered.
Subsidies for young families in 2020
In addition, if a couple or single citizen were members of a housing savings or housing cooperative, the state could finance the last part of the contribution. The received subsidy could be used exclusively for the purchase of one’s own home or its construction.
- The maximum age of people who can receive a subsidy is 35 years;
- They must be citizens of the Russian Federation;
- In addition, it must be proven that applicants are in line for improved housing conditions and really need it.
Interesting facts about marriage and divorce
A selection of interesting facts:
- According to research, men and women who do not enter into their first marriage before the age of 49 practically lose all chances after this age.
- The less money was spent on the wedding, the stronger it turned out to be. The highest percentage of divorces is among those who paid more than 1,500,000 rubles for the wedding.
- Overweight people who get married have a much higher chance of getting divorced after they lose weight.
- Marriage can be formalized by mail.
- The longest marriage in the world is 91 years.
- Marriages in which the wife earns more than the husband have a higher chance of failure.
- In Iran, you must obtain a marriage license from the state, and one of the conditions is that both the man and woman must attend mandatory seminars on contraception.
Main reasons for divorce
Studying all the same statistics, we can say a few words about the reasons for this decision. The most common situations are described in the table:
| Cause | Percentage, % |
| Alcohol abuse, drug addiction | 41 |
| A married couple does not have their own home | 26 |
| A significant role in family life is played by relatives of spouses - mothers-in-law, mothers-in-law | 16 |
| No children | 8 |
| Spouses, for a number of reasons, live separately for a long time | 6 |
| Stays in places of deprivation of liberty | 2 |
| One of the spouses is seriously ill | 1 |
A number of sociological surveys conducted helped to identify several additional reasons. Here you can note an early age of marriage, a difficult home life or a busy career.
Answers to frequently asked questions
- Why is it so difficult to find statistics on divorces in Russia? There are two reasons for this. The first is that there are too many marriages and divorces, we talked about this above. Compiling a representative sample in such conditions is not the easiest task, because many factors need to be taken into account. Secondly, not all people want to talk about the circumstances of their divorce, especially if not much time has passed since the divorce. Therefore, consistently at least 25% of respondents refuse to answer some questions, which “involves” the “survivor’s error” and casts doubt on the results of the study.
- What sources did you get the information from? Official reports of Rosstat, statistical yearbook (also published by Rosstat). If this was not enough, they took the results from other studies.
Young Family program in 2020
In order not to receive a refusal at the very beginning, it is important to be sure that it is registered to improve living conditions and that you have a complete set of papers.
To do this, you need to check the list on the regional website, and not be guided by the list of documents for another city. The authorities do not deny that the procedure for participation in such a project is excessively bureaucratic. Even for the initial submission of documents, you need to collect many different pieces of paper. Based on the fact that one of the criteria for participation in the program is the mandatory need for improved housing conditions, for those who are not yet registered, the need to register for it is considered a priority. For those who are already recognized as needing housing improvements, it is worth skipping registration. The rest of the steps are the same:
