Family policy in Russia
Avdeeva Maria
Center for population Studies,
Moscow State University
junior researcher
e-mail to: [email protected]
Family policy - a subset of
governmental social policies that have
as their object the well-being or the
behavior of families with children*.
* Encyclopedia of population / ed. by Paul Demeny, Geoffrey McNicoll. - New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2003 - 2 vol., p.371
Goals of family policy 1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
Compensation of the cost of children Reduction of children poverty Provision of children well-­‐being and their social development Fertility support (to fulCill the fertility intensions of the family) Increase in female employment rate (work-­‐family balance) Gender equity Main tools of the family policy 1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
Direct payments (cash beneCits) Childcare services (formal care, Cinancing the institutional care, quality of childcare services) Tax reduction for families with children Parental leave (gender equity, maternity leave, payments) Female employment rate (gender equity, wage equity, reconciliation of work and family obligations) Russian family policy 1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
Paternalistic family policy with governmental help The responsibility for the well-­‐being belongs to the family with expectations of governmental compensation for family failures Mix of Egalitarian family model and dual-­‐
earning model High direct cash payments and developed day care Tax reduction Cash beneCits in Russia 2000
2005
2006
2007
2009
To t a l n u m b e r o f
children, receiving
allowances aged 0-16
(in thousands)
19168
13345
11830
11312
10623
Children of lonely
m o t h e r s ( i n
thousands)
1615
1581
1524
1554
1554
Children of parents in
military service (in
thousands)
3,8
2,3
1,9
1,7
3,6
Share of children
receiving allowances
in total population of
children aged 0-16
57,2
47,8
43,8
42,8
40,8
Formal care in Russia 1995 2000
2005
2006 2007
Institutions of pre-school care (total
number in thousands)
68,6
51,3
46,5
46,2
45,7
Positions in pre-school care
institutions (for 1000 children aged
1-6 years, in thousands)
676
688
603
589
565
Share of children in pre-school care
institutions (in % of total number of
children aged 1-6 years)
54
55
57
58
59
Example of tax reduction scheme in Russia for family with mortgage Gross income = EUR 51 000 Income tax paid = EUR 6 630 Mortgage payouts = EUR 16 305 (incl. interest – EUR 14 352) Tax return = EUR 1 866 (interest paid * 13%) from 1992 the Russia has lost around 13 million (without migration). Population in 2010 (141,9 million) and in 1999 (148,3 million) •  Gender gap in mortality is 11,9 years. Life expectancy at birth for men is 60,9 compare to 73,4 for women (2010). • 
• 
TFR for 2010 is 1,5. • 
(2009) the queue to the kindergartens (childcare services for children aged 3-­‐6 years) was 1,7 millions. • 
Gender gap in wages is 36% (in 2009), in time costs is twice for female • 
Public expenditure for the family policy is around 1% of GDP (estimates) Uncertainty France (A.Paihle, A.Solaz): Uncertainty=Economic uncertainty = job uncertainty •  InCluences the family formation but not the family expansion •  Women do not postpone motherhood, do not use it as a shelter; males postpone parenthood in case of cycling unemployment •  Russia (Family and fertility survey,2009): Uncertainty = uncertainty in the future Answering the question was “if you want to have more children than you plan to have, what and how prevent you from having desired number of children”, 44,5 % of women and 42,9 % of men mentioned the uncertainty in future. Russia and the “welfare state” Liberal regime
United Kingdom, Switzerland Scandinavian regime
Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland Conservative regime
Conservative
“governmental”
“Active support”: France, Belgium “Limited support”: Germany, Austria Russian conservative
model
Russia
Conservative
familialistic
Spain, Italy