The Phenomenon of Childlessness in Russia

Abstract

Over the past 200 years, the birthrate in our country has undergone major changes. As a result, the study of the childless as a population group is of considerable interest to researchers. The aim of this work is to study female childlessness as a social phenomenon, and the causes and conditions of its dissemination in Russian society. Thanks to the works of social historians, medical doctors, and demographers, the essence of the phenomenon of childlessness in Russia has been described. Using the 2002 and 2010 censuses, we have traced the evolution of the percentage of the childless among women of different ages and generations. Analysis has shown that such women have always existed, but their number has changed, as have society’s attitudes toward them and the reasons for childlessness. In any generation, in different epochs failure to marry was the main reason, but the role of this factor has varied throughout demographic history. The problem of female childlessness in modem Russia has been tending to increase, particularly in urban areas. We also found a regional differentiation in the level of childlessness, which once again demonstrates the diversification of its causes and effects. In the second half of the twentieth century, the influence of demographic factors (war, famine, social and economic turmoil) on the level of childlessness was virtually eliminated. The development of reproductive medicine, gynecology, and effective infertility treatment increased the number of women who were able to give birth to children. At the present stage, the number of the voluntarily childless has increased, which may reflect both a temporary and final individual choice.

Keywords:

• childlessness
• singlehood
• marriage rate
• infertility

Notes

1. For example, the proverbs: “Die childless and not even a dog will howl”; “You live with no one to talk to; you die with no one to mourn you”; “A family without children is like a flower without scent”; “ A family without children is like a clock without a plummet”; “A women without children is an empty barrel of rags”; “A house with children is a circus; a house without children is a graveyard”; and so on.

2. In contrast to Russia, features of the Western European marriage rate were later marriage and a significant proportion of people who never marriage [3, p. 7]. According to John Hajnal, “in Eastern Europe fewer than 5 percent of women remained unmarried at the age of fifty, while in Western Europe this figure was a minimum of 10 percent and in many cases 15 percent.” In Portugal and Sweden, it equaled almost 20 percent, in Iceland 29 percent [17, p. 18]. Hajnal explains this pattern citing the development of capitalism and the Protestant ethic. Late marriages encourage the growth of prosperity, but the opposite was also possible. Moreover, within this type of marriage rate the unmarried life of adult women was seen as a normal alternative to marriage (although not the destiny of the majority). In Eastern Europe, this alternative barely existed. In Hajnal’s opinion, the differences in the two types of marriage rates persisted right up until 1940. After World War II, there was a marriage “revolution” in most European countries: people began marrying earlier and more often than before. Accordingly, the proportion of childless women also shrank during those years.

3. According to the World Health Organization, on average about 5 percent of the population is infertile because of anatomical, genetic, endocrine, or immunological factors.