Marriage and family structure: state and trends in the results of the Russian census

In the conditions of increasing depopulation in Russia, it is important to understand the current state and trends of the Russian family and marriage, as they directly determine the parameters of fertility and, consequently, population reproduction. The aim of the research is to study the state of marriage and family structure of population in Russia and the Vologda Oblast, as well as changes taking place in it. The information base are the results of the All-Russian Population Censuses of 2010 and 2020. We use the methods of structural-dynamic and comparative analysis, calculation of coefficients, and table-graphic methods of data visualization. In the course of the research we have revealed the following features of the current state of family and marriage: the priority of officially registered marriage, high proportion of singlehood among young people, high proportion of widows among women aged 60 and over, predominance of single-parent households in the structure of Russian households, and in the family structure - complete, nuclear and small families. Long-term trends include an increase in the share of divorced and separated, an increase in the share of the population without marriage experience, a postponement of marriage by young people, a decrease in the prevalence of widowhood (especially among women), a decrease in the average household size, an increase in the share of single, other and nuclear households, an increase in the share of single parent families, and a decrease in the share of married couples raising children. A number of trends observed between 2002 and 2010 have been interrupted, and new trends have emerged: the increase in the prevalence of unregistered marriages by 2020 has been replaced by a decrease in the share of childless couples, the share of one-child families among complete families and among maternal and paternal families has declined, and the share of complete families with underage children, including two or more children, has grown. We have revealed the regional specifics of the marriage and family structure of the Vologda Oblast population and the changes that have occurred in it. In conclusion, we list the possible demographic effects of the identified trends.