Modern Russian family: crisis or evolution

The demographic situation in Russia is characterized by another decline in the birth rate, the persistence of a relatively high mortality rate and population ageing. Over the period of many years of research into the determinants of population reproduction, the family has been identified as the key actor whose functioning affects all demographic processes and the reproduction of human potential. The parameters of the institution of the family directly affect the functions it performs, that is why it is so important to understand and regulate the transformations taking place in the marriage and family sphere. The article analyzes three types of family relations: matrimony, parenthood and kinship. Based on the data of Russian studies and the author’s monitoring of the reproductive potential of the Vologda Oblast population, the article reveals the signs of devaluation of the institution of marriage due to the loss of its exclusive right to intimacy and procreation. The key trends in young people’ marital behavior is the widespread trial cohabitation and postponing marital registration. Children registration at the parents’ joint request contributes to the separation of marriage from parenthood, denying marriage as the basis of the family and a condition for the birth and upbringing of children. Public opinion is loyal to childbearing outside marriage; the share of those who do not consider it obligatory to register a relationship in case of pregnancy and childbirth is growing among both men and women. At the same time, there is a clear demand for involved fatherhood and egalitarianism in the distribution of family responsibilities, as well as a trend towards having planned, consciously realized large families. As for nuclearization, functional ties with the parental family are preserved, the priority shifts toward financial support of adult children. The key priorities of demographic policy are identified as the growth of the prestige of official marriage, which gives socio-economic advantages over single life or cohabitation, the introduction of the concepts of parenthood and grandparenthood labor, primarily for large multi-generational families, the calibration of information flows that determine the image of family, parenthood, and lifestyle in the public consciousness.