The average number of kids Russians would like to have in the family is 2.7, a recent poll discovered. However, the number of kids people think they will have in reality is 1.8.
Russian women would like to have 2.5 kids on average, while males averaged their wishes for the brood at 2.8.
Wishes vs. reality
A recent poll by Levada Centre revealed that if local mothers and father were able to fulfill their dreams, the number of kids in an average Russian family would be 2.7.
However, when asked about the realities of life, the answer was very different. In reality, people expect to have only 1.8 kids.
The poll was conducted among females aged 45 and under and males 55 and under, which is obviously what they consider “reproductive age” in Russia for the purposes of statistics.
Wishes:
- Only 2% of survey participants stated they would wish to remain childless.
- 1 child is the preferred option for 11% of locals.
- 2 is the wish of 41% of respondents.
- 3 would be the goal of 25% of participants.
- 4 children or more is the dream of 14% of respondents.
Reality:
- No children: 9%
- 1: 27%
- 2: 39%
- 3: 13%
- 4 or more: 5%
The rest of the people found it difficult to give an answer.
- Surprisingly, males wanted to have 4 or more kids more often than females: 11% vs. 7%.
- 37% of males want to have 2 kids, as compared to 46% of females.
- On average, males wanted to have 2.8 children in the family, while women wanted 2.5.
When asked about reality, the number aren’t that far apart: 1.9 for guys and 1.8 for females.
Among the people who expect to stay childless, 9% are males and 8% are females.
Younger women wish for fewer children
Another surprising finding is that the young Russian women who have more time to bear offspring have less ambitions about large families. Among females aged 18-24 the average number of the babies desired was 2.1.
Ladies aged 25-29 wanted 2.4 babies, and the ones aged 30+ indicated their desires in the range of 2.4-2.5.
But when talking about realities, age didn’t matter. Younger women under 25 plan to have 1.7 babies, while ladies 25-39 talk about 1.8. Women 40-44 who were unlikely to have more babies also indicated 1.7.
The poorer respondents indicated on average a higher desirable number of offspring than people who had more money.
As compared to 1999 research by Levada, the expected number of children in the family raised from 1.36 to 1.82. The desires also increased: from 2.21 in 1999 to 2.63 in 2019.
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My friend got married to a woman from Ukraine in the spring of 2019. She already had 2 daughters and just before Christmas 2019 they had a baby girl!
I’m envious!
Unfortunately, I’m getting a little to old to have children of my own. So I will try to find a wife that already has children!