Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov (Иван Иванович Иванов), a 25-year-old man from the northern Siberian region Irkutsk, has just completed his 5th divorce and says, [He's] looking forward to the 6th wedding, but [he] would not mind trying again with a 7th."
His fluctuating marital status is particularly high, but such high marriage and divorce rates are by no means unique in northern Russia, where there is a severe shortage of men. The Gender Ratio of young men to women ages 35 and below has reached 85 men to 100 women. Combined with increasing rates of young adults who are uninterested in marriage, it is expected that millions of women will be unable to find a husband unless they migrate further south or out of the country entirely.
Reports from the Russian News Agency TASS state that these ratios are exaggerated and a more accurate estimate of the ratio is closer to 98 men to 100 women, but several laws have already been passed in an attempt to bolster birth rates in hopes of counteracting the accelerated populating aging anticipated from the gender imbalance including awarding 48,000 rubles for the bearing of more than 2 children and severe penalties for abortions.
The disparity in male demographics has been attributed to the aggressive recruitment of men from the northern regions of Russia during the Russo-Ukrainian war, which has led to massive casualties and deaths of Russian forces. Russia's military is made up of 95% men, but with an estimated 300,000 deaths and over 1 million casualties, it is estimated that 2% of the men of Russia were lost in the conflict. Although Moscow and its surrounding regions were spared significant losses in their male population, this came at the cost of severely depleting the northern regions, where military recruitment was heavily prioritized.
Desperate single women and war widows have been taking extreme measures to avoid being stigmatized for their failure to follow proper gender roles by purchasing foreign husbands from Eastern European countries such as Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Even after childbirth, single mothers are often derided as mamasha and regarded in Moscow as immoral and irresponsible for not being able to properly provide their children with a father figure.
Men have recognized their increased value as marital partners and have been having informal agreements with their spouses for temporary or open relationships, leading to divorce after the birth of a child. Reports of domestic violence in the region have also greatly increased in anonymous surveys, but not in police reports, due to policies minimizing the crime unless "substantial bodily harm" occurs more than once a year. There have also been claims that the number and popularity of male prostitution have increased, though this has been denied by Russian media.
There is a silver lining for women, though, as women now make up 60% of the workforce, far above the global average, and many women have entered industries in metallurgy, truck driving, and more by taking advantage of the amendment to jobs restricted to women in 2021. This increased representation has allowed improved bargaining, and the pay gap between men and women has shrunk to 20%, a far cry from the 49.1% difference in 2023.
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