The year 2013 was marked by a whole scattering of statistical collections in various areas of social life: information society, foreign trade, regions, investment and construction, trade, industry, education, etc. However, I would like to highlight one of them separately - "Family in the Republic of Belarus" .
The appearance of this collection is quite expected against the backdrop of increasing demographic policy and the leveling of the significance of gender policy. The official position on this issue can be expressed as follows: rationing instead of diversity. Even on the cover of the collection we see a socially desirable image of a family - a heterosexual family with two children. Left out of the picture are “single” mothers, large families, same-sex families, and childless families. All of them already appear as deviations in one direction or another from the normative pattern.
However, abstracting from this visual representation and official rhetoric, let us turn to what is presented in this collection. What is it like, “family in the Republic of Belarus”? What trends and processes can we observe based on statistical data?
Families and households
The collection gives the following definition of family: A family consists of two or more persons who are related by kinship or marriage, who live together and have a common budget. Unlike a household, a family does not include non-relatives, and a family is not one person who lives independently and provides himself with everything necessary for life.
Accordingly, the collection provides data on two types of family practices, namely married families and so-called “incomplete” families. It is important to emphasize here that there is an increase in the number of families consisting of a mother and children. At the same time, an interesting category “other families” appears, although it is in no way explained which families are being discussed in this case.
This classification does not reflect the actual living practices of people. In particular, the number of people living completely independently, since such people do not fall into the concept of “family”. Same-sex families are also excluded from this classification, or they fall into the category of “single mothers” or “single fathers”, since they do not have the opportunity to register their relationship. In addition, all those people who are not considered family are deprived of certain social guarantees. For example, the issue of housing becomes practically unsolvable for many who are not married, do not have children and, accordingly, cannot qualify for social housing or construction benefits.
More interesting are the data on the structure of private households. Statistics clearly demonstrate that a third of the population lives “alone”, but is not considered a family and falls outside the scope of social guarantees. It is important to note that half of these single-person households in cities are over working age. About 15% of people of working age live alone in cities.
The emergence of two different concepts - "family" and "private household" - essentially indicated that the rigid concept of "family" excluded a large number of people and their living practices. At the same time, the study of households allows us to include diverse groups in the focus of attention of social systems, to be more sensitive to their needs and requirements. The emergence of these concepts is not new, but they can be a good example of how one normative model can exclude a variety of social groups and experiences. Accordingly, there is a need for categories that would be more sensitive to different types of experience.
Social transformations: marriage and divorce rates
Attempts to define one normative type of family, in fact, ignore the various social transformations occurring in society. The traditional family model does not correspond to the realities of modern times, where this model is no longer attractive to people focused on more flexible models. It is not surprising that there is an increase in the number of people who have never been married. So, if in 1999 24.3% of men and 16.8% of women were not married, then in 2009 – 26.7% of men and 18% of women. The number of divorces is also growing.
The age at first marriage has increased significantly. In 2005, the average age at first marriage was 25.7 years for men and 23.5 years for women. In 2012 – 26.7 and 24.6 years, respectively. Young men and women are choosing to marry later. Accordingly, the number of marriages at an early age, up to 19 years, has decreased.
However, it is important to emphasize that young women are still more likely to enter into early marriages than men. This indicates that traditional attitudes regarding gender roles still persist. In other words, getting married, starting a family, and having children is considered paramount for women. For men, these regulations are not so strict. In addition, they are entrusted with the role of “breadwinners”, and, therefore, later marriage for men is encouraged by financial motives: a man at an older age is more able to support his family. As a result, men have a better chance of getting a good education, work, and access to resources. Women, who are forced to bear full responsibility for everyday life and raising children from an early age, do not have sufficient resources for self-sufficiency and fall into the risk group of poverty and economic dependence.
Thus, on the one hand, traditional attitudes regarding marriage and family relations still remain, but on the other hand, these trends indicate social changes that naturally require a rethinking of the institution of family. Although phenomena such as the rise in divorce rates are often seen as symptoms of a “decline in morality”, they should be assessed only as symptoms of inevitable changes, strengthening the position of women, which requires a revision of the traditional gender order.
Childbirth practices
In recent years, the number of children born out of wedlock has been decreasing. Young women prefer to have children in a registered marriage. Perhaps this is due to a more conscious and rational approach to having children, and the desire to have a certain social and economic security. Modern negative trends in the economic sphere, in particular the extremely low level of social benefits for child care, require women to make more thoughtful and balanced decisions regarding reproduction. Moreover, some social guarantees, such as housing, can only be obtained if you have the status of, for example, a young family.
It is natural that the average age of a mother at the birth of her first child has also increased. In the republic it was 25.2 years. There are some differences between urban and rural areas. Thus, among city women, the average age of giving birth to their first child is 25.7 years, while among residents of rural settlements it is 23.7 years.
At the same time, the level of contraceptive culture is still not high enough. The data presented in the collection allows us to state that the level of use of oral contraception is decreasing, while for a certain part of women pregnancy is not desirable. Thus, among pregnant women in 2012 at the time of the study, pregnancy was desirable for 92.1%. In urban areas this figure is 94.4%, and in rural areas – 83.3%. Accordingly, for 16.7% of pregnant women from rural regions, pregnancy was undesirable. This indicates that access to contraception is limited both directly (high prices for contraception, oral contraception can only be purchased with a doctor's prescription) and indirectly due to lack of access to information (for example, lack of sex education programs in schools). Access to contraception is associated not only with the immediate physical ability to obtain this or that method, but also with the importance of education and dissemination of information about the features of contraception.
Official statistics record a number of problems in the economic situation of families, especially certain types of families. Firstly, there is an increase in the number of citizens in need of improved housing conditions. However, the measures taken are absolutely unable to solve this problem.
Thus, in 2012, 813.6 thousand citizens (families) were registered as needy, but the number of citizens (families) who improved their housing conditions during the year was only 39.2 thousand. That is, they could improve their housing situation in 2012 year, only 4.6% of those registered as needing improved housing conditions. Moreover, the same picture is observed in relation to such a particularly vulnerable category as large families.
Young families also fall into a separate risk group, since the birth of children occurs primarily before the age of 30. Maternity leave and three people living on one salary put young families in a situation where there are no opportunities to solve housing problems.
Secondly, it should be noted that the country has insufficiently developed social services that would provide assistance in raising children. First of all, we are talking about the provision of kindergartens. It is the presence of preschool institutions that allows parents, and in particular women, to engage in education and profession. In Belarus, there has long been a shortage of places in kindergartens. Back in 2005, the level of enrollment of children aged 1-5 years in preschool education institutions was 82.5%. However, already in 2012 this figure dropped to 74.4%.
However, the size of the benefit leaves much to be desired. Thus, the monthly child care benefit for children under 3 years of age as of January 1, 2013 was about 165 USD. This amount is not enough to provide for the mother and child. Accordingly, a model of asymmetric parenting is formed in families, where women are economically in the least favorable conditions, and fathers, while earning money, are alienated from raising the child. It is not surprising that among low-income households the majority (65.1%) are households with minor children.
State policy in the field of family and marital relations declares the importance of maintaining social guarantees, however, realities and even Belstat research indicate significant problems in the socio-economic situation of families and women’s health. At the same time, official rhetoric ignores the social transformations that are taking place in this area, trying in every possible way to support one single normative model, which, in fact, excludes various categories of the population.
Sociologists even talk about the triple burden of Belarusian women in families. They, like men, go to work, run the house and household “in the second shift,” and also emotionally invest in the family and the affairs of each of its members: the husband’s work, the son’s lessons, the daughter’s loves. By the way, this is one of the reasons why Belarus is seriously considering introducing parental leave for fathers.
- Domestic violence
Alas, most Belarusians are susceptible to it. In surveys, 2/3 of our compatriots admitted that they had been subjected to domestic violence at least once. Sexual and economic violence are more often experienced by women, but psychological violence is experienced equally by both men and women.
- Ignorance of laws
This is the scourge of international unions. Fortunately, there are few such people in Belarus; only about 7% of our compatriots marry representatives of other states, and 80% of their chosen ones are citizens of the CIS.
However, in cases where a marriage is concluded with representatives of non-CIS countries, Belarusians often find themselves legally and culturally ready for the changes awaiting them.
Photo source: pexels.com
- Marriages with “closed eyes”
Psychologist and Gestalt therapist Oksana Myasnikova spoke about her work experience.
Unmarried women often come to counseling with a question, already seeing and realizing the shortcomings of their partner, but they want to get married to him as quickly as possible, not to lose him, and to “overwrite”, remove, level, and not pay attention to the shortcomings. When you start digging with such a woman and realize that she may not make it to marriage, and she begins to see this, then such a girl usually leaves counseling. She prefers to close her eyes and get married.
According to O. Myasnikova, most often such families are among those who divorce after 1-4 years of marriage, in some cases, partners are kept together for economic reasons and children.
Another option for the development of events in such families is a codependent relationship in which one of the spouses has an addiction - alcohol, drugs, gaming.
What about them?
In Kazakhstan They plan to create a family support center where young couples could come before marriage and learn the basics of family life.
Local authorities believe that in this way they will be able to prevent young people from getting divorced, because... they will better understand what marriage, family are, what crises happen, etc. An interesting fact: in Kazakhstan, men more often seek psychological support in matters of preserving their family than women. There, psychologists note that when children are brought up in single-parent families, when they create their own, they often find themselves unable to resolve bilateral conflicts that arise, since they did not receive such experience in childhood.
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Photo source: website
Another Kazakh topic that has been actively discussed in society for many years is the permission or ban on polygamy. About half of young women support this idea and are ready to become a second or third wife for their husband. The other half - as a rule, married ladies - are against their husbands bringing someone else into the house.
In Kyrgyzstan, in recent years there has been a trend towards early marriages. It is not uncommon for people to get married at 17-18 years old. The divorce rate there is also low - 6%. Recently, the country legally abolished one of the local customs, according to which young people could become spouses in a mosque, bypassing government agencies.
In Armenia the family structure is considered more stable than in many Western countries. And although divorces have become more frequent there in recent decades, taking this step is still considered unpopular and shameful in society, and being in the status of single or unmarried is not prestigious.
Photo source: pexels.com
Family psychotherapists from Yerevan note that most often, discord in families occurs due to sexual cooling of partners towards each other, jealousy of the career growth of a spouse, especially women, conflicts with teenage children, especially mothers with daughters, and interference in the family life of parents and other relatives.
Not long ago, a proposal to attach family psychotherapists to family courts was considered in Armenia. Only after their work with couples who want to separate could the case go to court.
In recent years, the age difference between spouses has also increased in Armenia.. Increasingly, young girls are marrying men 15-20 years older.
In Moldova note the great influence of Western trends on their culture and family traditions. This includes many abortions, late-birthing women, a decline in the authority of parents, and migration.
A peculiarity of Moldovan families is temporary single-parent marriages, in which one of the parents goes to other countries to work. Often, after just a few months of a spouse’s absence, such marriages begin to fall apart at the seams.
Photo source: pexels.com
In addition, children especially suffer in them; their mothers, forced to earn money, leave them to grandmothers or other relatives who are not very prepared to raise children.
Irina Latysh
Are there many divorces among married couples in your environment?
For twenty years now our country Belarus independently and independently follows the path of its formation. Over the years, a new generation of people has grown up who already have different views on family and family values. They understand the meaning and importance of marriage differently than their fathers and mothers. So what is she like? modern family V Belarus? What does she see for herself and her children? What difficulties do they face and what problems do they solve?
Young couple, average age 23 to 27, one or two children, both working. This is a portrait of a private families in almost any CIS country. Belarus This is no exception. After the collapse of the USSR, there was a slight tendency toward a kind of Europeanization of family life. Trying to be like Westerners families led to a reorientation of family relationships. The role of money in such families has become dominant. But the rather difficult economic situation in the mid-90s and subsequent years did not allow family in Belarus become a full-fledged European family. However, this is hardly necessary. At the same time, the rate of marriage under the age of 25 has decreased. Yes, people began to get married later. However, the divorce rate for such marriages is relatively low. For every 100 marriages there are 40-43 divorces. People are taking a more conscious and thoughtful approach to starting a family.
Became very common families with one child. Here the Belarusian family also began to resemble a European one. Despite the state program on support and assistance to large families families in Belarus, preferential lending for housing construction, medical care, and childbearing in the country is steadily falling. According to Belstat, in 2006 the number of births was 85.6 thousand people, and in 1990 – 142.2 thousand people. Here, economic, psychological, and social factors played a role. Also, quite a lot of Belarusian women began to give birth in unregistered marriages. Either the fathers are lost, or the couples do not want to register their relationship. In different ways, in general.
And there is also such a trend. Very little attention modern The Belarusian family began to pay attention to their health. Has medicine become more expensive or is there not enough time... More and more often you can see mothers walking with strollers and smoking cigarettes one after another. No, of course, everyone decides for their own health, only then it’s too late. For the child, first of all. And how nice it is to see a married couple skiing outside the city in winter. It's a completely different matter! Although in general active sports in modern Belarus very popular.
I would also like to mention the role of fathers. They work a lot, sometimes go to construction sites for big money, solve their problems and often escape from problems in family. A single mother after a divorce is quite a typical phenomenon for modern Belarus. Every fifth woman under the age of 30 is divorced and has a child. One in three of this number remarries.
But you shouldn’t exaggerate. Modern family in Belarus- This is a more responsible, loving and caring unit of society. And priority should be given to such families. It's not family for the state, and the state for families. Is not it?
May 15th is International Family Day (established by the UN General Assembly in 1993). In Belarus, according to the National Statistical Committee, there are more than 2.691 million families. Of these, only 38% are complete - a married couple with children - in the country, and Every fourth marriage registered in 2012 was repeated. The age of newlyweds continues to increase.
According to the 2009 population census, there were more than 2 million 691 thousand families in the Republic of Belarus. More than 8 million people, or 86% of the country's population, had family relationships.
Three quarters of families lived in cities and urban-type settlements (2 million 14 thousand families) and a quarter lived in rural settlements (677 thousand families).
Families of the Republic of Belarus by size
(number of families)
The predominant type of family in the Republic of Belarus is a married couple with children. Such families accounted for 38% of their total number.
About 45% of families had children under the age of 18. Three or more children under the age of 18 were raised by 62.5 thousand families, or slightly more than 5% of families with children.
Families consisting of mothers with children under 18 years of age - about 158 thousand, fathers with children - more than 12 thousand.
According to the population census, the average family size in 2009, both in the Republic of Belarus as a whole and in urban and rural areas, was 3.0 people.
It is believed that getting married in a leap year is a bad omen, therefore, analyzing the period in which several leap years can be tracked, we can conclude that in each leap year there are approximately 10 thousand fewer marriages than in the previous one, note in Belstate. Last year was also no exception. Compared to the previous year, the number of marriages in 2012 decreased by 10.5 thousand. In 2012, 76 thousand marriages were registered in the Republic of Belarus, or 8.1 marriages per 1000 people.
Number of marriages in the Republic of Belarus
Every year the age at which citizens of our country marry increases. In 2012, the average age of a bride getting married for the first time was 24.6 years, a groom - 26.7 years; in 2005, women got married for the first time at the age of 23.5 years, men - at 25.7 years.
Average age at marriage (years)
Of the total number of those who got married in 2012, 74% of men and the same number of women registered their marriage for the first time, of which 52.6% of brides and 41.2% of grooms first married at the most active marriageable age - at 20-24 years.
Almost every fourth union registered in 2012 was repeated for both men and women.
Marriages in the republic are concluded mainly between citizens of the Republic of Belarus. In 2012, the share of such marriages accounted for 93.4%, and only 6.5% were mixed marriages concluded by Belarusians with citizens of other states. Among the marriages registered in 2012 with foreign citizens, mainly brides and grooms of the Republic of Belarus entered into a marriage union with citizens from the CIS countries - 74.9%, of which with citizens of Russia - 68.4%.
The National Statistical Committee is confident that evidence of increasing family prestige and strengthening marriage and family relations is the increase in the birth of children among women in registered marriages. Thus, in 2012, the vast majority of children were born in registered marriages - 81.8%.
The largest number of births to women in registered marriages is observed with a marriage duration of up to 1 year (30%). The number of children born out of wedlock was 18.2%, while in 2005 the share of such children was 24.2%.
Last year, the average metropolitan family was richer than the average republican family by 350 rubles (or $180). According to Belstat, in 2017, the disposable resources of households in the capital amounted to 1,396.9 rubles per month. On average in Belarus this figure was 1,043.5 rubles. However, the gap in living standards between Minsk and the country is gradually narrowing. FINANCE.TUT.BY looked at what families lived and spent money on in the capital in particular and in the country as a whole in recent years.
10 years ago, a family in the capital had $230 more to live on than the average Belarusian
Disposable resources are household funds, the cost of consumed food products produced on personal subsidiary plots, minus the material costs of their production and the cost of benefits and payments received in kind.
Money “for living” is the so-called disposable resources. Minsk residents have traditionally been richer than other residents of the country. In the capital, wages are higher and there are more opportunities for part-time work. But gradually the gap is narrowing, although it still remains quite noticeable.
It is also impressive that in dollar terms the standard of living has not yet returned to what it was in 2008. This applies to all of Belarus, and Minsk in particular. But Minsk residents are regaining their former positions more actively. And in 2016, economic turmoil significantly reduced the standard of living.
Living on up to 150 rubles a month: there are 9 times more such people throughout the country than in the capital
The stratification between the capital and the regions is clearly shown by Belstat data on the distribution of the population by level of average per capita disposable resources.
For example, those who live on up to 150 rubles a month in Minsk make up only 0.2% of the city’s total population. In the country, this figure is 9 times higher (1.8%).
At the same time, in Minsk there are 14% of those who have at their disposal more than 800 rubles a month, the average for the republic is 6.5%.
Screenshot from the Belstat website. Click to enlarge In general, according to a household survey, it turns out that in Belarus 73.5% of citizens last year lived in families where, on average, per person received up to 500 rubles per month. In Minsk there are 52.1% of them.
The dynamics are positive - for comparison, in 2015, 81.2% of the population of Belarus had an average per capita income of up to 500 denominated rubles per month, in Minsk - 61.7%.
In the capital, spending on food remained at the level of 10 years ago
The share of expenses on food (this includes purchasing groceries in stores and public catering) is one of the indicators by which the standard of living in the country is characterized. It is believed that the richer the economy, the higher the income of the population and the more other expenses citizens can afford.
In the country as a whole, the share of food expenditures is declining. It was the highest in 1995. Back then, 62% of consumer spending was spent on “bread and butter.” The best year was 2010, when families spent 39% of all consumer spending in stores and catering. We have not yet been able to return to this indicator either.
In Minsk, a smaller share of consumer spending is spent on food. This can be explained primarily by the difference in the amount of income, which allows residents of the capital to think about other expenses. This is reflected in both price diversity and competition between retail chains, which constantly organize promotions and sales in the fight for customers.
On the other hand, the availability and variety of choice does not allow Minsk residents to significantly reduce the cost of going to grocery stores or public catering. Data from different years show that now in the capital the share of food expenses is almost the same as 10 years ago. Throughout the country, during this time, this figure decreased slightly.
Utilities: the share of expenses is slightly higher than 10 years ago
Another significant expense item for all Belarusians is utility costs. This is what the situation looks like in different years.
As we can see, conventional fat now occupies a slightly larger share of consumer spending than it did 10 years ago. This applies to both residents of the capital and regions. In 2015, growing incomes made it possible to reduce the share of communal services. But then a fall in wages and an increase in utility tariffs returned everything to its previous level. Once again, the thesis is confirmed that the rise in prices for communal services hits the poor harder: the share of consumer spending by families “for fat” in Minsk is always lower than in Belarus.
Expenses on transport and personal cars: less than 10 years ago, but more than a year ago
The situation with public transport is this: Minsk residents spend a larger share of their expenses on “travel coupons” than the average Belarusian. But this does not mean that in other cities they travel like a hare: it’s just that small settlements allow people to do without public transport altogether, and the prices for it in the regions are lower. By the way, for both of them, the share of travel expenses has decreased over 10 years.
But what about the costs of purchasing personal cars and their maintenance? Here Minsk residents are also in the lead. But both in the capital’s family and on average throughout the republic, the share of expenses on personal vehicles has decreased compared to the level of ten years ago, but last year it began to grow again.
