Tatarstan leads the Volga area in birth rate and number of marriages: demographic results of 2024

Tatarstan leads in the number of registered birth certificates

Today, Elvira Akhmetova, head of the Civil Registry Office of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Tatarstan, reported on the results of its work in 2024 at the final board meeting. It should be reminded that she became the head of the department in November last year. As Elvira Akhmetova told journalists, one of the first tasks she set for herself was to get to know the employees of the Civil Registry Offices throughout the republic.

“I get to know the teams because I believe that the manager should know each employee by sight. This is important in the work. My task is to get to know the teams, find out what they do, how they receive the population, whether there are any complaints. As such, there are none, the work is organized in each district,” she said in response to a question from Realnoe Vremya.

Over the past year, 35,500 birth certificates were registered in Tatarstan, Akhmetova stated at the board meeting. 18,500 boys and 17 thousand girls were born, including 313 twins and one set of triplets. Another positive trend is that Tatarstan families have begun to decide to have fourth and subsequent children more often. In 2024, they accounted for 8.3% of the total number of births, compared to 7.7% in 2023. According to the department's statistics, this figure has been steadily growing since 2020. 39% of babies born in the republic were firstborn, 33% were second children, and 19% were third.

This is the best indicator in the Volga Federal District, Akhmetova emphasized. The republic is the leader both in the absolute number of registered birth certificates and per thousand people. However, there is a fly in the ointment: compared to last year, the birth rate has decreased by 3.3%.

The active age of motherhood in the republic is 25-29 years, fatherhood — 30-34 years. In the first year of family life, only every fifth couple had a child — 18%.

“Why such a small figure? Of course, this can be explained by a change in the value attitudes of the younger generation regarding creating a family and having children. Today, the prevailing model of the life cycle is when young people first fulfil themselves in career, achieve financial independence and only then decide to create a family and have children. As a result, the birth of the first and subsequent children is postponed to a later date, when the reproductive health of men and women declines, which creates risks for healthy motherhood and childhood,” the head of the Civil Registry Office shared her concerns.

The most popular names for boys in Tatarstan were Amir, Timur and Karim, and for girls — Amina, Yasmina and Yeva. The most unusual names that parents chose for their babies included Bagration, Batyr Khan, Sokrat, Agaya, Bibikhadicha and Kafiya

As for the level of death registrations per thousand of the population, it became the lowest in the Volga Federal District. According to the results of 2024, the coefficient was 11.3.

There are 570 divorces per thousand marriages

According to Akhmetova, Tatarstan also became the leader in the absolute number of marriages: last year, residents of the republic created 23,600 families. “The age of the oldest groom was 89 years old, and the bride was 86,” the speaker added. The active age of marriage for men was 25-29 years (about 28%), for women — 18-24 years (about 36%). Most young people — 70% — started a family for the first time. As part of assistance to those involved in the special military operation, more than 1,300 marriages were registered in a special manner.

Director of the Department for Legal Assistance and Interaction with the Judicial System of the Ministry of Justice of Russia Roman Ryaby, who connected via videoconference, thanked Tatarstan for its attention to digitalization. For example, 30% of all birth registrations in the republic were made through Child Birth e super service, he said.

But the number of broken families in 2024 decreased by 5.3%: 13,500 against 14,200 in 2023. There are 570 divorces per thousand marriages in the republic. This is one of the lowest rates in the Volga Federal District, Akhmetova noted. In Russia as a whole, seven out of ten marriages break up.

“The number of divorces in families with minors summer children, also decreased by 8.3% compared to 2023. We have been recording this positive trend for the fourth year in a row,” the head of the department said.

Most often, the registry offices formalized divorces by court decisions — 77% of the total. The republic managed to reduce the number of divorce decisions made during the so-called absentee proceedings, that is, in the absence of the defendant. “In 2022, their share in the total volume of judicial acts was 29%, by the end of 2023 it decreased to 23%, and last year it dropped to 22%,” the speaker said.

There are currently no special “reconciliation rooms” in the registry offices. Spouses wishing to divorce are told about the possibility of seeking advice from social NGOs. “At the same time, in Kazan in 2024, mediators held 81 meetings in the registry offices, as a result of which 12 couples came to reconciliation. And such targeted individual work with each couple is very important,” Akhmetova emphasised.

As an example, she cited the experience of 2016, when, thanks to grant support from Tatarstan, psychological consultations were provided to couples who applied for divorce at the sites of the Kazan registry offices. Assistance was provided to 519 families, and as a result, 70% of them did not break up.

In response, Deputy Prime Minister of Tatarstan Leyla Fazleyeva called on the Registry Office and the Ministry of Youth Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan to combine their efforts and start providing mediation to families on the verge of divorce. “Today, it is impossible for each structure to have a huge number of psychologists providing these support measures. We must pool resources to work in this area,” she stressed.

In her final speech, Leyla Fazleyeva issued a number of other instructions. In particular, she proposed reformatting work with the media and strengthening work on creating demographic attitudes in children. “They are formed from preschool age,” she said. The speaker called the Days of Unified Actions, when employees of the Civil Registry Office visit educational institutions, a good format. She asked the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Youth Affairs to discuss this initiative in advance and submit it to her.

In addition, Fazleyeva called for strengthening work on dating agencies for Tatarstan residents. The feedback on them is “colossally positive.” “We definitely need to intensify this work,” the deputy prime minister is confident. To improve the demographic situation, support measures from employers are also needed. Corporate practices for working with families should be understandable and accessible to every institution, Fazleyeva emphasised. “Perhaps it is time for the Ministry of Industry and Trade to announce a grant for the best family corporate practice," she added.

At the end of the board meeting, awards were presented to employees of the civil registry offices and a ceremonial transfer of the capsule of the family hearth “Heart of Russia” to Kazan. It has already been to Russia exhibition in Moscow and in all regions of the republic, and will now be kept at Kazan Family Centre as a sign of love and fidelity.