Children in Russia

Childhood in Russia

Once part of the powerful, communist Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (U.S.S.R.), Russia became an independent country in 1991 with the collapseof communism. As Russia tried to adopt democracy and a market economy, political and social disorder ensued. Unprepared for the rapid changes in government and economy, much of the world's sixth largest country was in poverty. Many aspects of children's lives in Russia have been greatly affected by the overwhelming poverty. Stricken with devastating poverty, many Russian parents abandoned their children, resulting in close to two million orphans. In the most recent years, the social status of children is defined directly by the status of orphans. The lifestyle of Russian children is barely affected by the country's diversity, because the economy is the main determinant of children's status in Russia.

Although our research mainly focuses on Russia, our statistics include all of the Russian Federation. The countries that make up the Russian Federation are Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Moldova.

Here are some statistics about the Russian Federation pertaining to children.

Total Population	147,434,000
Population under 18	35,628,000
Population under 5	7,003,000
Annual Numer of Births	1,420,000
Adult Literacy
Males	100%
Females	99%
Net Primary School Enrolment
Males	93%
Females	93%
Percent of Infants with Low BirthWeight	6%
Infant Mortality	21/1,000
Annual Number of Deaths: Children under 5	36,000

The above statistics are from the UNICEF web page.

Our Purpose

Our purpose is to increase awareness about Russian children's lives by providing information about their social structure, diversity, and agency. In our web page, we explore children's role in their family, how Russian health conditions affect children, the Russian education system, and the experience of orphaned children in Russia.

The three main themes, social structure, diversity, and agency direct our presentation and discussion about childhood in Russia.

Note: Because the amount of resources on the current status of children in Russia is limited, some of our information refers to Communist Russia.

Sources:
Encarta Encyclopedia. 1999. Microsoft Corporation [producer].
State Party Report. (July, 1997). United Nations Homepage . http://www.un.org (1999, November 10)
Contents

Family Education Health Orphans Organizations

View a map of Russia.

This web page was created in the Fall of 2000 by Tulane University students Blake DiMarco, Alex Isaacs, Jodie Lord, and Amanda Seruya, as part of our study on Childhood Around the World in Professor Brayfield's Children and Society course.
Last updated December 15, 2000