North Caucasians Marry at Higher Rates than Rosstat Reports but Don't Register with the State

Paul Goble

            Staunton, September 7 – Ever more young Russians are living together and even having families without formally registering their marriages, but Rosstat reports that the lowest marriage rates in the Russian Federation are in the North Caucasus, ignoring the fact that many young people there are married in Muslim ceremonies and do not register with the state.

            According to the Russian statistical agency, people in Ingushetia marry at a lower rate than in any other federal subject, 3.8 per 1,000. The figures for Daghestan, North Ossetia, Chechnya, Stavropol kray, Karachayevo-Cherkessia, and Kabardino-Balkaria are almost as low, 4.7, 4.7, 4.8, 4.9, 5.4 and 5.4 respectively.

            But these figures, the Caucasus Post says, distort the situation: young people there are marrying at least as frequently as in the past but doing so in Muslim rather than civic ceremonies (capost.media/special/obzory/kak_menyaetsya_otnoshenie_k_braku_i_svadebnym_obychayam_na_severnom_kavkaze/).

            What is indicative of this is, the paper reports, is that in this marriage season, celebrations are more public and posh, with parents competing with each other to have the best reception they can, one way in which Russian values have spread to the region and also one that explains why Rosstat statistics in this case are so far off.