Reproductive Behavior of Modern Rural Youth

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study of the reproductive behavior of rural youth on the example of the Republic of Kalmykia. In recent years, there has been a decrease in the fertility rate among the rural population in the republic. The research method is conducting in-depth semi-formalised interviews in three district centres of the republic (N=30). The interviews made it possible to identify the expected number of children, the age when they plan to have a child, to analyse the factors affecting reproductive behavior, as well as the impact of new measures of state support for families with children and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the desire to have a child. The analysis of the conducted interviews showed a rather serious approach of modern rural youth to the birth of a child. Young people understand that difficult conditions in rural areas can significantly affect a child's health and quality of life. The lack of work, the inability to get the desired level of income, the poor state of the healthcare sector and other social rural infrastructure leads to a decrease in the number of children they would like to have in the family; to the fact that more and more often young people postpone the birth of a child to a later date.