Features of the evolution of the family in Khakassia in the late 1980s-2010s

The article reveals the essence and features of the evolution of the family and household in Khakassia during the depopulation processes in Russia at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. The focus is on the identification and characterization of the size, composition, type of family, number of children, the analysis of the reproduction conditions of the population, taking into account regional specifics. During the late 1980s-2010s the main trend in the development of the family in Khakassia was to further reduce families of three or four or more people and increase sparsely populated families of two or three people. The structure of the family was simplified; it becomes predominantly nuclear with few children (one or two). Reduction of the family size was determined by its splitting a result of separation of young married couples, increase in divorces, widowhood, formation of single-parent families as a result of illegitimate births, etc. Simplification and reduction of the size of the family was also due to the decreasing birth rate, the increasing number of childless couples, increased mortality, population aging accompanied by the growth of people living alone. The small family trend is largely explained by the increased demands and the cost of support and education of the younger generation, the desire to give children the necessary level of welfare, the orientation of young families on the out-of-family leisure and professional career. Small families clearly revealed the contradiction between the interests of the state, interested in expanding the population reproduction, in the labor force increase, population growth in the sparsely populated areas of the country, on the one hand, and the family needs in children on the other. When children were considered not so much as actors and heirs of the family farm, but primarily as a reflection of the personality and experience of the parents, to meet the psycho-social need in children it was enough for spouses to have one or two children. A number of public policies directed towards the support and benefits to families on the birth of children, assistance to mothers in maintaining reproductive health certainly contributed to an increase in the birth rate and family strengthening in Khakassia. However, these problems can only be solved by a complex socio-demographic policy, including ensuring the availability of pre-school institutions, assistance to young families to acquire housing, creation of favorable conditions for the combination of professional work and parenting, strengthening of family values. However, in assessing the effectiveness of family policy in Russia, the lack of compliance with the declared state programs and measures of practical support for the family in terms of its financial and legal support should be noted.

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