Reproductive Behavior and Reproductive Attitudes of Women of Middle and Late Childbearing Age in the Far North (On the Example of the Magadan Oblast)

Since the end of the last century, the northern and north-eastern regions of Russia have entered the final stage of demographic transition, in which the birth rate has fallen below the replacement level of generations, and the proportion of the elderly population has increased to its historical maximum against the background of a mass outflow of the working-age population to the central regions of the country. The demographic transition in this territory is heterogeneous and has its own specifics related to the structure of the economy and the nature of employment, migration flows, the historically established settlement pattern, unfavorable climatic and geographical conditions, and patterns of reproductive and consumer behavior. In order to study this specificity, 226 women aged 2544 were surveyed in Magadan Oblast. The subject of the study was women’s reproductive attitudes, their marital status, focus on having many children, few children or no children, identification of the expected, desired and actual number of children, factors leading to the refusal to have more children, as well as those stimulating childbearing, the problem of distribution of responsibilities in the family. The study has shown that family values are a priority for women of middle and late childbearing age, but they are associated with the demand for improved housing conditions and increased income.