A third of Russians considered marriage to be an optional condition for having children

One third of women with above-average incomes believe that marriage is not a prerequisite for having a child. This follows from the SuperJob study, which was reviewed by RBC on September 26.

A survey conducted in September 2025 among 1.6 thousand adult Russians showed that men with salaries starting from 100 thousand rubles are more likely to support marriage for the sake of procreation (46%), while women with the same income believe that it is not necessary to get married. Over the past 17 years, the number of Russians who believe that marriage is not necessary to have children has increased from 18% to 26%, while those who consider marriage desirable have decreased from 42% to 32%.

It is specified that the share of those who consider marriage obligatory decreased from 38 to 36%. Marital status also influences opinion: married men and fathers are more likely to support the need for marriage (42 and 41% versus 27 and 26% for single and childless men), and married women are more likely to consider marriage desirable (41% versus 30%).

The level of education affects in different ways: men with secondary education are less likely to consider marriage compulsory (27%) than those with higher education (37%), and women with higher education are slightly less likely to consider marriage necessary (31%) compared with women with secondary education (33%).

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Earlier, on August 8, it was reported that having a potential partner's own apartment is a prerequisite for every fourth (25%) Russian resident to start a relationship. It was noted that men are more likely than women to start a relationship with a person without their own home (38% versus 32%).

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