Parity-Progression Fertility Tables for the Nationalities of the USSR

Using data from a socio-demographic survey conducted in 1985 in the USSR, fertility parity-progression tables were constructed for the 17 most populated Soviet nationalities. These tables give the probability of a woman who gave birth to a child between 1970 and 1974 to have her next child by the time of the survey. Using World Fertility Survey data, the model of natural fertility by parity was built and two subgroups of women were identified: those who control family size and those who do not. Nationalities differ considerably by the proportion of women who control childbearing (from 17% for the Tajiks to 99% for the Jews), and by TFR for those who control family size (from 4.2 for the Tajiks to 1.5 for the Jews)

Marital Status Behavior of Women in the Former USSR: Regional Aspects

This paper uses the most recent data and life table analysis to describe the marital behavior of women in the republics of the former USSR. For the first time a multistate life table analysis was used to describe the marital careers of women from all of the 15 republics. In the near future, such a comparative analysis will no longer be possible due to the unavailability or incompatibility of statistical data, especially in some of the Asian states. The first part of the paper gives a historical background of the marital processes in the former USSR as well as an analysis of statistical data. In the second part, results from a multistate life table analysis are presented. The analysis shows that despite 70 years of influence by Soviet ideology and lifestyle, the institution of marriage was less subjected to rapid change, and retained its traditions for each culture and its ethnic features. The analysis shows a remarkable diversity of first marriage, remarriage and divorce patterns among the geographical groups of European, Asian and Caucasian republics. Marriage was a universal institution in the former USSR. The majority of the women in all of the former republics entered marriage at least once. The mean age at first marriage varies from 20.5 in Moldavia to 22.8 in Azerbaijan. The proportion of marriages that end in divorce differs from 16% in Georgia to 41% in Latvia. On average more than 30% of divorced women remarry in Latvia and Ukraine and less than 5% in Georgia

Marital status behaviour of women in the former Soviet Republics

This paper uses the most recent data and life table analysis to describe the marital behaviour of women in the republics of the former USSR. For the first time a multistate life table analysis was used to describe the marital careers of women from all the 15 republics. In the near future, such a comparative analysis will no longer be possible due to the unavailability of statistical data, especially in some of the Asian states. The analysis shows that despite 70 years of influence by Soviet ideology and lifestyle, the institution of marriage was little subject to rapid change, and retained its traditions for each culture and its ethnic features. Marriage was a universal institution in the former USSR. The majority of the women in all of the former republics entered marriage at least once. The mean age at first marriage varies from 20.5 in Moldavia to 22.8 in Azerbaijan. The proportion of marriages that end in divorce differs from 16% in Georgia to 41% in Latvia. On average more than 30% of divorced women remarry in Latvia and Ukraine and less than 5% in Georgia