Influence of migration history on marital status and the number of children among modern Russian men and women

The article analyzes data from the 30th round of the study “Russian Monitoring of the Economic Situation and Public Health” conducted by the National Research University Higher School of Economics and Demoscope LLC in 2021. The respondents who took part in this round were divided into three groups. Group 1 includes people who were born in the same towns and villages where they live now. Group 2 - people who were born in other places, but settled in this locality before the age of 16. As a rule, they were brought by their parents. Group 3 consists of people who moved to their current place of residence at the age of 16 and older. Many respondents from group 1, who have never moved anywhere, do not want to change anything in their lives. Consequently, they are more likely to remain single and/or childless and less likely to have three or more children than respondents from groups 2 and 3. However, in group 3, many people cohabit with their partners without marriage registration. The proportion of childless cohabitants is many times higher, and the average number of children they have is much less than that of legal spouses. According to the author, only those people who are not afraid of the difficulties associated with resettlement to another region or to another country are capable of it. Those of them for whom family and children are vital values are also not afraid of the difficulties associated with starting a family. In migrant families, the mindset of starting a family with several children is more often passed on from parents to sons than to daughters.