Marriages and divorces in Russia

Main article: Population of Russia

Prenuptial agreements

Main Article: Prenuptial Agreements

Marriages and divorces in Moscow

Main article: Marriages and divorces in Moscow

2023

Reduction in new marriages by 11% to 6.5 per 1,000 people

At the end of 2023, the number of registered marriages in Russia was 6.5 per 1000 people. For comparison, a year earlier, the figure was 7.3 per 1000 inhabitants. Thus, a decrease of about 11% was recorded. This is evidenced by the statistics of Rosstat, which TAdviser got acquainted with in mid-November 2024.

As the iminfin.ru resource notes, in terms of the number of marriages in 2023, the Kamchatka Territory was in the lead with a result of 6.9 per 1000 inhabitants. This is followed by the Sakhalin region, where 6.4 marriages per 1000 inhabitants were registered, and St. Petersburg closes the top three with 6.3 marriages per 1000 people. The lowest figure was recorded in the Republics of Ingushetia and Dagestan - 1.9 per 1000 citizens.

𝓲

Freepik

The study says that the number of registered marriages in Russia in 2023 turned out to be almost a quarter - by 23.5% - less in relation to 2013, when the value was 8.5 per 1000 inhabitants. And in 2020, against the background of restrictions imposed in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of marriages in Russia was only 5.3 per 1000 inhabitants.

The number of divorces at the end of 2023 was recorded at 4.7 per 1000 people. The same indicator was noted a year earlier. In addition, the result has remained practically unchanged over a 10-year period. According to Rosstat, in 2023, 683.7 thousand divorces were registered in Russia.

According to Mosstat estimates, in Moscow in 2023 there were 3.7 divorces and 6.9 marriages per 1000 people. In the Moscow region, these indicators amounted to 4.5 and 6.4, respectively. Thus, people here are less divorced than in Russia as a whole. In 2023, residents of the capital and the Moscow region married more and divorced less. In absolute figures in Moscow in 2023, almost 91 thousand couples decided to tie the knot, in the Moscow region - more than 55 thousand.^[1]

In which countries spouses are most often divorced. Russia in 4th place

The leader in the number of divorces of spouses on a global scale is Portugal, where the share of dissolution of marriages reaches 94% of the total number of their conclusion. This is stated in the study, the results of which were published at the end of April 2024. Read more here.

With the help of Public services marry 6 times more often than divorce

From January 1 to early October 2023, Russians filed about 410 thousand applications for marriage and 70 thousand for divorce through Public services. Such data were Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation on October 12, 2023.

At the Public services, you can apply for both conclusion and divorce. But, fortunately, portal users are more likely to get married than to get divorced!, the department said in a statement.

Since the beginning of the year, Russians have filed 410 thousand applications for marriage through Public services

According to the Ministry of Digital Development, the application to the registry office for marriage is most often submitted on Friday and Saturday, and for divorce on Tuesday. The average age of women planning to marry is 31 years, and men are 33 years old. The average age for divorce for both men and women is approximately the same - 37 years.

From the statistics of the Ministry of Digital Development, it also follows that by October 2023, residents took the first place in using the Public services portal to apply for marriage registration, Moscow and residents took the second place. Moscow area Next come the residents, and St. Petersburg. Krasnodar Territory As Tatarstan for applications for divorce, they are most often submitted through Public services in the Moscow region, To Moscow Tatarstan, and. St. Petersburg Tula region

Using the State Public services portal, Russians can choose a convenient wedding time and send an offer to the bride or groom to register a marriage. As soon as the second applicant agrees to register, the application will be sent for consideration. The state duty for state registration of marriage is 350 rubles. The state registration of marriage and the issuance of a certificate to the applicant shall be carried out after a month and no later than twelve months from the date of filing a joint application for marriage.^[2]

2022: Rosstat named the regions with the largest share of divorces

At the end of June 2023, Rosstat named the Russian regions with the largest number of divorces. According to the ministry, in 2022 in Ingushetia there were 2542 divorces per 1000 marriages. This indicator is the highest in Russia. Also, a large number of divorces per 1000 registered marriages were registered in Chechnya - 2069, Dagestan - 1967, Karachay-Cherkessia - 1520 and North Ossetia - 1390.

As demographer Vladimir Timakov explained, the wave of divorces in the North Caucasus began after they began to pay benefits to women raising children without a husband. If in Central Russia this allowance is usually for 1-2 children, then in the Caucasus there are quite a few large families. For the sake of receiving 4 or 5 benefits, women file a fictitious divorce, he said.

According to Olga Lebedinskaya, Associate Professor of the Department of Statistics of the PRUE named after G.V. Plekhanov, "the institution of the family is changing" - if earlier society disapproved of women who gave birth to a child outside the family, now it is perceived calmer.

Many studies show that the higher the education level of women in the country, the lower the birth rate. Women may be wary of potential social deprivation associated with childbirth. This is a decrease in the ability to work, and a decrease in family mobility, living standards, and a change in intra-day timing, - said the expert in a conversation with Vedomosti (the article was published at the end of June 2023).

The smallest number of divorces at the end of 2022 was recorded in Tuva (452), St. Petersburg (462), Moscow (468), Tatarstan (522), Chukotka (511) per 1000 marriages.

In total, in 2022, 1.05 million marriages and 682.85 thousand divorces were registered in Russia. Compared to 2021, the number of marriages increased by 12.4%, divorces - by 5.7%.^[3]

2021

The share of single-parent families in Russia in 20 years doubled to 38.5%

The share of single-parent families Russia in 20 years has almost doubled: if in 2002 it was 21%, then in 2021 - already 38.5%. This is evidenced by the data released in April 2024. All-Russian Research Institute of Labor Ministry of Labor of Russia

As RBC writes with reference to this study, the authors of which refer to the results of the All-Russian Population Census of 2021, at that time there were about 15.5 million family cells with children under 18 in the country. We are talking about married couples with or without children, or a mother or father with children. In every third of these cells, only the mother raises children (4.85 million), in less than 10% of cases (1.13 million) - a single father.

𝓲

Unsplash

According to the study, from 2002 to 2021. the proportion of families with single mothers increased 1.6 times, and families with single fathers - almost quadrupled. At the same time, more than a third of parents who raise a child alone live with other relatives. In 10% of cases, the child's grandparents provide assistance to the parent.

According to the All-Russian Research Institute of Labor, based on Rosstat data, the level of material security of households with single-parent families is lower than in all families with children, by an average of 8.7%. The authors of the study emphasize that families with minor children in principle have higher risks of poverty than households without them, and in single-parent families the scale of this problem is even more dramatic, the authors state. If in married families with children the share of the poor in 2021 was 15.6%, then in households from one adult with children - already 28.3%. The report also notes that most of those with financial problems are in single-parent families, where children under the age of three are brought up.^[4]

Ability to register marriage at home under special circumstances launched

On August 3, 2021, amendments to the administrative regulations for the registration of civil status acts came into force, according to which marriages in Russia can now be registered without leaving home or in hospitals.

In this order, the registry office employee himself will come to the newlyweds and officially "sign" them. To use such a service, you need "special circumstances," by which Art. 11 of the Family Code means pregnancy, birth of a child or threat to the life of the bride or groom. But this list is not exhaustive - which means that some others may recognize as "special circumstances."

Russians can now register marriages without leaving home under special circumstances

The registry office specialist will notify the bride and groom about the time of arrival in advance. The order of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation notes that the maximum time allotted for marriage registration is 150 minutes, taking into account the time that the registry office employee will spend on the way.

According to Rossiyskaya Gazeta, if employees of some registry office refuse an invitation to the house, then the head of this registry office, at the request of the newlyweds, will have to issue an official written refusal. This document can be appealed in court.

In April 2021, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin at a meeting of the Presidium of the Coordination Council for the Fight against Coronavirus said that the Ministry of Justice needs to consider the issue of remote registration of marriages of Russians in registry offices.

Life does not stop due to the situation with the coronavirus [COVID-19], people marry and give birth to children, they should be able to register these events, he said (quoted by Interfax).

In July 2021, mandatory stamps in the passport about marriage and children were canceled in Russia. Now information about the conclusion and termination of marriage, children under 14 years old, previously issued passports, available passports, TIN, blood type and Rh factor will be indicated at the request of the citizen himself.^[5]"

2020: A decrease in the number of marriages by 18.9%, to 770.8 thousand - Rosstat

The number of marriages in Russia in 2020 decreased by 18.9% and amounted to almost 770.8 thousand, follows from the data of Rosstat. The increase in the number of marriages was observed only in February (by 31.6%), the largest decline - in April, May and June. The number of divorces in 2020 decreased by 9.1%, to 564 thousand. There was an increase in the number of divorces in September, a decrease in April and May. Rosstat published the updated data in July 2021.

According to Rosstat, Moscow became the leader in the number of registered marriages last year - almost 66, 5 thousand, which is 19.7% (16.3 thousand) less than last year. The number of divorces registered in Moscow also decreased - by 18% (8.6 thousand cases).

According to Rosstat, Moscow became the leader in the number of registered marriages in 2020 - almost 66.5 thousand, which is 19.7% (16.3 thousand) less than a year earlier. The number of divorces registered in Moscow also decreased - by 18% (8.6 thousand cases).

In 2020, 3.9 divorces and 5.3 registered marriages accounted for 1000 people in Russia. The highest divorce rates were registered in Sakhalin (5.1 per 1000 people), Magadan region (5.1) and Kaliningrad (5) regions. Least of all - in Ingushetia and Chechnya (1 each).

• St. Petersburg (76 marriages per 10,000 people);
• Kamchatka Territory (70 marriages per 10,000 people);
• Sakhalin Oblast (70 marriages per 10,000 people);
• Sevastopol (69 marriages per 10,000 people).

The least married in 2020 in:  

• Nenets Autonomous Okrug (36 marriages per 10,000 people);
• Leningrad Region (36 marriages per 10,000 people);
• Ingushetia (37 marriages per 10,000 people);
• Chuvashia (38 marriages per 10,000 people);
• Kalmykia (38 marriages per 10,000 people);
• Mordovia (38 marriages per 10,000 people).

According to experts, the number of registered marriages is directly related to the number of newborn children in past years. According to Elena Egorova, head of the laboratory for quantitative methods for studying regional development of the Plekhanov PRUE, "new families are actively created by young people in the 25-29 age group - echoes of the last Soviet baby boom."

According to the Unified Interdepartmental Information and Statistical System (UIISS), 73% of marriages broke up in Russia in 2020, for comparison, 65% of marriages broke up in 2018 and 2019. 30 years ago, this ratio was equal to 42%, and 70 years ago, only 4% of marriage unions broke up.^[6]

2019: Russians with mortgages get divorced ten times less often

Borrowers paying mortgages are divorced 10 times less often than other Russians: the share of divorces among them is only 2%, while among those who are not burdened with loan obligations, it reaches 20%, according to a joint study by the Equifax credit bureau and the National Association of Professional Collection Agencies.

"Among those who are not burdened with credit obligations, the share of divorces varies from 10 to 20%, and among mortgage borrowers it is minimal - about 2%," experts say.

Analysts explain this by the fact that the family is more balanced in deciding on mortgages both in terms of their financial capabilities and in terms of psychological stability within the family.

About 40% of Russians paying mortgages after deciding on a divorce allow delay, but most of them after some time return to permanent payments.

2018

Divorce rate - 65.6%

Процент разводов в countries of Europe in 2016-2018

The age of marriage has increased

For five years, the age of marriage has significantly increased. Thus, at the end of 2018, the share of grooms marrying at the age of 18-24 years decreased by 2.2 percentage points (pp) to 19.1% compared to 2015, the share of brides of the same age decreased by 2.5%. On the contrary, the proportion of grooms and brides marrying in the more mature age category - over 35 - increased by 3.3 and 3.7 pp, respectively.

What percentage of marriages end in divorce. Map of regions

Divorces per 1,000 marriages

52 divorces per 100 marriages: Russia in 7th place in Europe

Divorce rate per 100 marriages

• Portugal: 69
• Denmark: 56
• Spain: 56
• Finland: 55.4
• France: 55
• Belgium: 52.7
• Russia 52
• Netherlands: 51.2
• Italy: 48.7
• Norway: 42
• UK: 41.7
• Germany: 40.8
• Hungary: 37.7
• Austria: 35.5
• Poland: 32.8
• Greece: 22.2

(Eurostat)

21% of children are born out of wedlock

As of 2018

2017: Divorce peak - 4.2 cases per 1000 inhabitants or 611 thousand divorces

In 2017, the peak of divorce proceedings in the country fell - 4.2 cases per 1000 inhabitants or 611 thousand divorces according to Rosstat. In the same year, there was an increase in overdue mortgage debt (see Mortgage in Russia).

2016: 4.1 divorce per 1,000 residents

In 2016, 4.1 cases of divorce per 1000 inhabitants were recorded in Russia.

2012: Rising marriage rates

According to statistics, the number of marriages in Russia from 2004 to 2012 is increasing, while the number of divorces does not show an upward trend.

1980

From the magazine "Crocodile," 1980

1958

Newlyweds at a rural wedding. USSR. Late 1950s.

See also

• Fertility and mortality in Russia
• Migration from Russia and to Russia

Notes