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Russia has long been characterized by early and universal marriage. After the Soviet Union collapse, the average age of marriage has been rising, and cohabitations have become common. Many scholars explain the causes of this trend through the perspective of the Second Demographic Transition. The aim of this research was to define the nature of cohabitations in Russia, reveal the factors of entrance to non-marital unions in order to discuss how and why non-marital union is implicated in recent dialogues about family policy. In order to achieve the aim, such methods as Event History Analysis and Sequence Analysis were used.

Declining marriage rates and increasing cohabitation rates in modern Russia have become a trend that many scholars have observed and tried to explain through the perspective of the Second Demographic Transition. Our research is another attempt to understand these changes and to answer the question on the nature of cohabitation in Russia. We aimed to find the difference between some patterns of matrimonial events and to define the nature of cohabitations in Russia. For these purposes, we applied descriptive statistics and Event History Analysis. We also suggested a logical scheme of the ways of development of the first cohabitations. We observed the opposite trends of matrimonial behavior: the younger Russian people are, the higher their probability of starting of the first cohabitation and the lower their risk to have the first marriage. Our analysis showed that a cohabitation is not yet a complete alternative to marriage, but it has a possibility of becoming it for younger generations.