Russian South leads in the number of mothers who gave birth between the ages of 16 and 18. According to the Social Fund, the majority of such young women reside in the southern regions of the country. Dagestan holds the first place in this area among all regions: 280 new mothers in that age bracket were registered there in January–March.
Other regions with the highest number of mothers aged 16–18 include Krasnodar Territory and Rostov Region 188 and 165 young women, respectively, become mothers there in Q1. In addition to those regions, the top 5 included Sverdlovsk Region (157 young women) and Moscow Region (153).
Regardless of the age of childbirth, the Social Fund supports women at every stage of the process. During pregnancy, expectant mothers can receive the unified allowance from the Fund. Before the child is born, a maternity allowance is also assigned to them. For working women, its amount is based on their average earnings.
To assist families during the time when a child is brought into the world, the Social Fund assigns two lump-sum payouts: a maternity payout, as well as the one paid upon the birth of a child. On top of that, the Fund proactively assigns maternity capital to women. This year, it increased to RUB 729,000 for one child and to more than RUB 963,000 for two children.
A mother is entitled to a unified allowance for her children until they graduate from school. Depending on the family's income, the benefit amount ranges from a half of the child's subsistence rate to the full subsistence rate amount. The unified allowance is currently one of the key benefits for millions of Russian families.
Benefits have also been significantly increased since last year for young mothers who study at universities. If previously, their maternity allowance amounted to the average scholarship (around RUB 16,000), now that amount has increased several times over and is now at the level of the regional subsistence rate. For a standard maternity period lasting 140 days, pregnant students today receive an average payout of RUB 96,000.