The Role of Organized Religion in Reproductive Behavior of the Population in Modern Russia: Empirical Estimates by the Regions

Abstract

The article raises the issues on the abuse of the right to perform abortions, which has always been relevant for the modern society. The article gives the historical outline of the Russian demographic policy for legalizing (and/or sponsoring) abortion and analyzes possible positive/negative socio-economic consequences thereof. The work presents a brief overview of the formation of modern cultural and religious ethos of the contemporary Russia, which inter alia is supposed to influence the indicator under study. The article puts forward a hypothesis which is tested on religious composition data of the Russian population and on the quantitative level of abortions by the regions for 2 periods. On the basis of regression analysis, it can be concluded that today there is an existing link between the share of atheists in the modern society and the quantitative abortion rate in the Russian Federation.