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On March 8, Russia will celebrate Woman’s Day, when men of all ages congratulate and give presents to all women they know – mothers, grandmothers, sisters, wives, daughters, girlfriends and just friends and coworkers. Men usually try hard to make this day special for their wives, some of them even cook and do woman’s work about the house! Sadly, but a lot of Russian women won’t feel so special on this day. Recent demographic study shows that half of the Russian women are single and major part of this half have never been married.
The study is based on the national census 2002. According to the census data, out of thousand women of all ages175 have never been married, 180 are widows, 110 are divorced. In the 25-30 age group 219 women out of thousand have never been married, 11 are widows and 106 are divorced.
The average age of marriage is increasing for women and the number of early marriages is falling. If in the beginning of 1990s the average age of a Russian bride didn’t reach 22 years old, now it gets to 23 and it is much lower than in western countries. Experts believe that it is one more evidence that the economical situationof the country has changed and the woman has got a new status.
The main reason of this demographical situation is the numerical superiority of men over women. According to the census data there are 1147 women to 1000 men in Russia. And these figures will unlikely get even, due to the low birth rate and early death of men. Demographers don’t expect the birth rate to rise in the near future, despite the decrease in the number of abortions. According to the scientific prognoses the number of potential mothers in Russia can become twice as little by the middle of the 21st century and three times as little by the beginning of the next century. The population will keep decreasing and the growth can be expected only due to the migrants from the countries of the former Soviet republics, experts conclude.
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