Social support for families with children in the period of coronavirus epidemic and families’ need

The purpose of this work is analysis of the social support coverage in Russia during the coronavirus epidemic. The paper also analyzes the impact of the pandemic on the financial situation of families. The work focused on families with children as the poorest category of the Russian population with a lot of social exclusions. The study was based on the data from population survey conducted at the top of the epidemic by the Yuri Levada Analytical Center (LEVADA-CENTER). During the period of isolation caused by the coronavirus epidemic, population significantly suffered from lack of work and reduction of earnings. Families with children lost the possibility to leave children in kindergartens and schools that had a negative effect on the welfare of the population: 35% families reported worsening of the financial situation of their families over the past year. At the same time, more than 40% of the families received social support compensating the negative effect of the coronavirus epidemic. Social support was primarily provided to families with children — there were twice as many recipients of benefits among them then among the entire population. The paper also analyzes the opinion of the population about what measures of the social support they consider the most important and what types of assistance their families need. According to the survey data, the greatest need of the population is for financial support (almost 37% of families). At the same time, the majority of the respondents believe that it is the duty of the state to provide all children with normal living standards. The analysis has shown the importance of the social support of the population and the necessity of raising its efficiency in the difficult period of the coronavirus epidemic.