The Russian government promotes marriage and early childbirth in an effort to balance demographics, but de-facto relationships are becoming more typical, a recent survey revealed.

Statistics: De-facto relationships in Russia vs. marriages

A recent poll by WCIOM asked men and women about several things, including their marital status. The survey was representative among all regions, genders, and ages, so its findings are worth consideration.

When asked about their marital status, 10% of respondents stated they were in a de-facto relationship. In comparison, 52% of respondents said they were officially married, while 35% were either single, widowed, or divorced, and didn’t have a romantic partner they shared a home with.

Russia has no legislation about de-facto relationships. There were proposals to give status of de-facto partners to people who had lived together for 5 years or more, but it wasn’t adopted.

Unsurprisingly, even in this survey 50% of males stated they were officially married and 54% of females. It is typical for all surveys, including official census. Up to 10% more women than men consider themselves married as compared to men.

In this survey, the option of being in a de-facto relationship was specifically spelled out, but there is still an imbalance in answers of males and females.

But it is the same 5% difference that we see in answers about living with a partner without marriage: 13% of males and 8% of females.

It’s obvious that the female respondents were simply too embarrassed to admit, even to an unknown interviewer, that they were living with a man without an official marriage certificate. In Russia, it’s officially frowned upon.

Women are often told (and start believing in it themselves) that if they live with a man without being married to him, it means “he is using her”.

• The highest level of live-in partnerships is among the group 18-34 (16%).
• It drops to 13% for the group 35-44 years old.
• Among the group 45-59, 9% of respondents are in such relationships.
• Among the participants aged 60+, 5% live together without registering a marriage officially.

82% of Russians aged 35-44 are married or in a de-facto relationship

• Younger people are more often single than married: 33% in total in the age group 18-24. This is a combined score for people who are officially married as well as those who live with a partner.
• 25-34: 63%
• 35-44: 82%
• 45-59: 69%
• 60+: 51%

The older people are more likely to be widowed, obviously. The average life expectancy of Russian men is only 66.9 years. Women live nearly 11 years longer: 77.6 years.

Data: WCIOM.ru

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