Abstract

To develop an effective demographic and family policy, one has to understand the reproductive behavior features and attitudes of the younger generations. These features largely determine the current and future fertility levels. Firstly, this study aims to analyze the prospects of childlessness in Russia. Secondly, we analyze mating and reproductive behavior as well as the reproductive attitudes of the generation born in the 1990s. We reviewed Russian and foreign literature in the field of mating and reproductive behavior, analyzed statistical data and findings of the representative surveys “Person, Family, Society” (2020), “Generations and Gender Survey” (2011) performed by the RANEPA Institute for Social Analysis and Forecasting.

Abstract

The preprint considers official statistical data on fertility, migration and mortality across Russian regions in 2020-2021 and is aimed at a comparison of dynamics of these processes in the time of COVID-19 pandemic and in the preceding years. To carry out this comparison, changes of several key demographic indicators (life expectancy at birth and inputs of different age groups and causes of death into its changes; total fertility rates of children of different birth orders; indicators of migration balance) in regions of Russia in the time before and during the pandemic are considered. It is shown that regional differences in dynamics of the mortality indicators were especially large. Sources of these differences need a separate study. Changes in fertility were more uniform: the pattern with decreasing fertility of first and second children with stable fertility of 3+ children was most common across regions. For migration, a considerable decrease of number of regions with a positive migration balance was observed in 2020 and, still more, in 2021.