To have another child in France and Russia

Maria Avdeeva, Moscow State University

Across Europe and all over the world the beginning of the 20th century was marked by growing interest in the well-being of families. Family as a social and economical institution is influenced by changes in society, culture of the country and economic well-being. Rapid changes in these areas cause modification in family structure and as consequences, alterations in desire to have a certain number of children and to the increase or decrease in the fertility level. Thus, family as an institution is a driving force for socio-economic changes while also being a victim of them. This project is comparisons of some factors influence the decision to have another child in France and Russia to explore if it is possible to implement the French experience of family policy in Russia, match which areas the families suppose to be the problematic. Learning o such factors is the key point in development of different family policy measures in Russia. The data set of the research is the first waves of French and Russian GGS. The determining factor of reproductive behavior is the correlation between desired number of children and expected number of children. Like any other social norm this correlation can be changed over time. Nowadays the dominant family model in France is the “two child model”. In Russia this model looks like “not less that one child, but no more that two”. This means that there is a huge number of families with one child and very limited number with 3 and more. Through the comparison of decision-making process in two countries the author tries to apply the French experience of family policy to Russia.