Russian Federation: From the first to second demographic transition

By S. Zakharov. 2008

183 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The demographic transition in Russia was accelerated by several social cataclysms during the "Soviet type" modernization. Frequent changes in the timing of births and marriages engendered a mass "abortion culture". Contraceptive devices of poor quality were produced on a limited scale. The Soviet regime promulgated pronatalism and considered contraception to contradict this ideology. There have been two waves of government policy interventions. In the 1930s and 1940s restrictive and propaganda measures prevailed. These failed to yield serious effects. In the 1980s, policies aimed at lessening the tension between full-time employment and maternal roles. These generated shifts in birth timing, namely shorter birth intervals and earlier second and third births, however increase in completed cohort fertility was minimal. A third wave started in 2007. Preoccupied with continuous depopulation, authorities intend to boost births by substantially increasing benefits. The mid-1990s was a turning point in the change of fertility and nuptiality models. The 1970s birth cohorts marry and become parents later. They delay first and second births and increasingly begin partnerships with cohabitation. Contraception is replacing abortion. New attitudes and perceptions about family, partnership, childbearing, and family planning are emerging. A major transformation typical for developed countries, the Second Demographic Transition, is underway. Nevertheless, many neo-traditional features of fertility and nuptiality remain. These distinguish Russia from most European countries and will persist in the near future. Completed fertility, however, hardly differs from the average European level.

Subfields: Demography, Gender Studies

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/545f9fffbda2dfe5dd1501288aa625c2c9738014

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In Demography

1. J. Goldstein
2. Aiva Jasilioniene
3. Tomás Sobotka

In Gender Studies

1. J. Goldstein
2. Aiva Jasilioniene
3. Tomás Sobotka

Citations in the corpus

• The End of “Lowest‐Low” Fertility? (2009, background): “It can be spent for a limited range of purposes, which include paying for children’s education, purchasing housing, investing for retirement and the like (Zakharov 2008).”
• Overview Chapter 6: The diverse faces of the second demographic transition in Europe. (2008, background): “Across Europe, childbearing outside marriage has experienced an explosive increase (Overview Chapter 4) and is " becoming socially acceptable at all ages and in all social strata " (Zakharov 2008:934).”