The legal age of marriage in Russia is 18. However, teens under 18 are able to get married with a permission of their parents.

At what age Russian brides get married?

In some autonomous national republics of the Russian Federation such as Bashkortostan brides are able to wed legally from the age of 14. In other locations the permit from parents or guardians allows teens to wed at 16-17 under special circumstances, such as pregnancy.

In total, there were 4,593 marriages registered with brides aged under 18 in 2018, GKS.ru reported.

It is the lowest in recent years:

• There were 11,425 marriages registered with Russian brides under 18 in 2011.
• 5,886 brides under 18 tied the knot in 2017.

The total number of marriages in Russia dropped from 1,316,011 (2011) to 893,039 (2018) — it’s 32% decline.

In just 8 years Russians are marrying 1/3 less frequently than before. What happened?

This is due to people marrying later in life, as we will see from the statistics. The only group of newlyweds that didn’t drop in size are Russian brides 35+. All other age categories, including the quantity of grooms in all groups, experienced a decline.

Thus, we can say that women 35+ are relatively in a higher demand today as life partners than they used to be 8 years ago. While people are marrying less frequently in younger age groups, the frequency of marriages among mature Russian women remained the same.

Statistics of marriages

The breakdown by age in the Russian statistics shows us only 4 age categories:

1. Under 18
2. 18-24
3. 25-34
4. 35+

In the past, this division was probably sufficient. But now with many people entering marriages at 50 and even 60, we have no way of knowing what is going on among the whole category 35+. It would be great to find out how widespread are weddings among the silver haired singles!

It is by far the lowest number of marriages entered in Russia by grownups (without taking in consideration underage brides and grooms) by the age category of the bride.

In 2018, over 216 thousand of Russian brides 35+ got hitched in the country. It’s about the same number as in 2011 when over 215 thousand women 35+ said, “I do”.

It is remarkable, because the number of Russian brides 18-24 dropped from 574 thousand in 2011 to 282 thousand in 2018, which is 50% decline. But the number of marriages in the category 35+ remained the same.

It means, younger people are marrying half as often, while more mature Russian females still find husbands locally at the same rate.

The number of marriages where brides were aged 25-34 also dropped: From 514 thousand in 2011 to 386 thousand in 2018 (25% decline).

That the number of Russian brides 18-24 years decreased from 574 thousand But the number of marriages in the category 35+ remained the same.

What about grooms?

There are 10 times less underage grooms in Russia than brides. In 2018, only 454 males were under 18 when they got married, as compared to 4,5 thousand females.

The majority of Russian grooms belong to the category 25-34.

• In 2018, 456 thousand of men were 25-34 when they got married (633 thousand in 2011) — 28% decline.
• The group 35+ is now the second largest (it was the third in 2011): 265 thousand in 2018 as compared to 301 in 2011. This group also experienced a substantial drop in numbers among grooms (12%), while there were virtually the same number of brides aged 35+ in 2018 and 2011.
• The group 18-24 was the second largest among grooms in 2011, now it’s the last among grownups. The decline in numbers was the largest in this group of grooms: from 380,457 (2011) to 179,440 (2018): 53% drop.

Blame on demographics?

According to Yuri Krupnov from the Institute of Demography, the drop in the quantity marriages can be explained by demographics: People aged 20-30 were born in 1990s when Russia experienced a huge economics decline as well as drop in the number of births. There are simply fewer people of the marriageable age right now as compared to 2011.

Other experts blame immature attitudes of the modern youth. Alexander Rikkel from the Moscow State University, PhD in psychology, called Russians under 30 “perpetual kids” or “the Peter Pan generation”. They never want to grow up and be responsible for anyone but themselves.

Russian politician Tamara Pletneva, the chairman of the Parliament’s Committee on the matters of family, is unhappy about the attitudes of the modern youth as well.

According to Pletneva, young Russians are getting married just to have fun at the wedding and the parents are the ones copping the bills. Once the honeymoon is over, the newlyweds behave immaturely and use the “incompatibility of personalities” excuse to get out of the marriage, the lawmaker complained. She also disapproves the young couples’ choice to cohabit rather than opting for a formal marriage, pointing out that the majority of such pairs don’t last long. (Isn’t it the point? To see if they can make it?)

In any case, the statistics confirm that young Russians aren’t tying the knot as often as before, which is not necessarily a bad thing. With the divorce rate in Russia wiggling around 60% mark in the past decade, it wouldn’t hurt to delay nuptials until a more mature age.

What do you think?

Read also:

• What is a Russian Bride?
• Top-5 reasons to marry a Russian woman
• I love Russian statistics (but this time it’s disappointing)
• 10 differences between dating mature Russian ladies vs. young girls