due to income growth, the likelihood of having children in a family decreases – Kommersant

HSE experts analyzed the influence of family income on the decision to have a child and came to the conclusion that as wealth increases, the likelihood of having children in a family decreases. According to experts, this phenomenon is explained by the fact that spouses with relatively high earnings lose more compared to poor families. For research “Welfare and the presence of children in young families: assessment of the relationship” noticed “Vedomosti”.

The study says that children are an “investment good,” so the desire to have them, in most cases, has an inverse relationship with family costs and a direct relationship with income. However, due to the fact that for most families the main source of livelihood is salary, the cost of raising a child depends on its growth. That is, richer married couples lose more compared to less affluent spouses because their time is more valuable, the authors point out.

According to experts, this conclusion is confirmed by the fact that the role of women in the formation of family income is increasing – in every fifth family, in the absence of children, women were the main breadwinner. But after having children, as the authors note, most women are forced to reduce their working hours or quit altogether.

According to forecasts Rosstat, from 2023 to 2027, the birth rate in Russia will decrease from 1 million 244.5 thousand babies to 1 million 140.4 thousand. The figure will begin to grow only in 2028. By the beginning of 2046, Rosstat expects, the country’s population will be 138 million people. As of January 1, 2023, 146 million people lived in Russia.

Read more about fertility factors in Russia in material “Ъ”.