Fertility and demographic policy in Russia

Population 143,600,000 (Official Estimate – October 2013)

Growth rate 0.23% (2012)

Birth rate 13.3 births/1,000 population (2012)

Life expectancy 70.3 years (2011)

• male 64.3 years

• female 76.1 years

Fertility rate 1.7 children born/woman (2012)

In last years, the total fertility rate has been around 1.3 (births per one woman), which is 1.65 times lower than needed for replacement of the population (2.15). The age fertility model is coming closer to the one in the majority of developed countries: more and more births take place after 25 and even 30 years of age. The share of children born from unmarried mothers is growing. In last years it has been around 30%. The primary causes for low fertility and the low number of children are financial difficulties, the perception that living conditions will impede on the raising of children and widespread incidence of families not wanting to have multiple children, even under favorable conditions. The negative situation is worsened by the problems with reproductive health: low culture of birth management, widespread abortions and infertility. A set of measures that provides socio-economic support to families with children, encourages the birth of second and third children in families, and improves reproductive health could increase the total fertility rate to approximately 1.7-1.8, or slightly more, by 2025. At this, the expectations must be realistic: it is not likely that in the foreseeable future the fertility rate in Russia will raise to the level of generation replacement. To ensure sustainable fertility growth, it will take long-term budgetary investments and stage-wise increase in spending on family and maternity benefits. The implementation of policies will require the monitoring of fertility and reproductive health.

Fertility policies aimed at increased fertility rates must be comprehensive to resolve the range of problems causing low levels of fertility. The key goals for such a policy include:

• ensuring the social status of families with multiple children and encouraging families to have

2-3 children

• establishing conditions to support families to have multiple children

• ensuring reproductive health through family planning, such that women are able to have the number of children they desire

Recent researches on the factors driving fertility suggest that an effective fertility policy should:

• assist young families to acquire housing

• improve social support and benefits system to families with children

• enable parents to combine work outside of the home with responsible parenthood

• increase access to preschool services

• strengthen families values, particularly the social prestige associated with raising multiple children

• reduce abortion rates by building awareness about family planning

• protect and improve reproductive health