Based on the statistics data and sociological surveys in Bashkortostan the trends are revealed in the process of creating a family that have developed over the past twenty years; such indicators of it as marriage rate, unregistered marriages, religious marriages, inter-ethnic marriages, repeated marriages, and others have been analyzed. Conclusions are drawn about the specifics of the process of starting a family in the republic. The marital structure of the population and the dynamics of the indicators of marriages and divorces show that the trends taking place in Bashkortostan fit into all-Russian. In a broader context, the same processes take place as in many developed countries. To such general processes we can attribute decreasing in the proportion of married people, increasing the age to start a family, increasing the experience of divorces and unregistered marriages, widespread practice of cohabitation without registration prior to formal marriage. A number of republic-wide indicators of starting a family can be considered somewhat more favorable than all-Russian indicators. This applies to the marital structure of the population, the level of marriage and divorce, families with one parent. At the same time, the republic obviously transit gradually to a group of subjects that have close or equal indicators of family creation to the average Russian. This transition is particularly obvious in the divorce rate. Despite the growth of the population living in nation-mixed families, for all ethnic groups the mono-national family is preserved as predominant. Bashkirs and Tatars, as their religion revived and religious consciousness changed, have the significance of the religious marriage tradition increased. In recent years, a number of processes related to family and marriage sphere has had a positive dynamics in the republic: the number of married people is growing, and the number and level of divorces are declining, although unsteadily. However, such dynamics, if evaluated from the perspective of global transformations of the family, cannot remain long-term and, most likely, is temporary.

family, family creating, nuptiality, unregistered marriages, marriage in a religious ceremony, inter-ethnic marriages, national blended family, extramarital family

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