Federal and regional maternity benefits such as 'maternal capital', larger child allowances, and other measures introduced since 2007 to improve the country's demography have led to more births, but have not yet contributed to effective fertility rates in Russia. A paper by Sergey Zakharov and Thomas Freyka in the HSE's new Demographic Review journal examines Russia's reproductive trends over the past half-century in an attempt to make projections concerning the future effects of the country's demographic policies

Life scenarios in Russia have changed substantially over the past 50 years; individual biographies are now more diverse, while different life stages, such as going to school, starting a family, getting a job, and retirement, are no longer linear and do not always follow a pre-set sequence. Perhaps the most unpredictable are the life courses of people born in the mid-1970s whose entry into young adulthood coincided with the beginning of market reforms in Russia. Alla Tyndik and Ekaterina Mitrofanova have studied Russians' life courses over the past 85 years

Generally in Russia, being childless is an involuntary situation associated with infertility, age, and being single. However, being childless in Moscow is often a deliberate decision. Aside from a biological inability to bear children, childlessness in Moscow is likely to be associated with higher levels of education, income security, the structure of the family of origin, and certain attitudes, i.e. that having children is not necessary for happiness, according to Svetlana Biryukova, Research Fellow of the HSE's Centre for Studies of Income and Living Standards

Children attending Moscow schools who are born to migrants from CIS countries often encounter difficulties adapting to their new environment. In research published in the HSE's online journal Demoscope Weekly, Zhanna Zayonchkovskaya, Yulia Florinskaya, Dmitry Poletaev, and Ksenia Doronina argue that educational institutions must help them master the Russian language and to overcome issues arising during the teaching process

Fewer Russians associate relationships between men and women with marriage, and gender roles are moving away from those of husband and wife. Russians still perceive 'the ideal man' and 'the ideal husband' as similar types – the common denominator being the roles of breadwinner and protector. In contrast, ‘the ideal woman' and 'the ideal wife' are two entirely different types. The former must be good-looking above all, while the latter is expected to be loyal, loving, and a good homemaker, according to Yulia Lezhnina, Associate Professor at the HSE's Subdepartment of Socio-Economic Systems and Social Policy

According to homeopaths, an increasing number of Russian patients trust their methods. Meanwhile, conventional medicine does not take homeopathy seriously, viewing it as 'supplementary therapy' at best and as quackery and an occult practice at worst, according to Radik Sadykov, Lecturer at the Faculty of Sociology of the HSE's Department of General Sociology

The impact of family, including its cultural aspects, on a pupil’s idea of his or her future work is significantly weaker than the influence of the student’s own personal qualities, such as dedication, perseverance and desire to learn, Alexandra Yuzhaninova concluded in an article published in HSE’s Journal of Educational Studies.

Lifelong learning is increasingly common in Russia. One can assume looking at the booming global business of online education with platforms such as Coursera, EdX, and Udacity, and various webinars and video lectures that the internet serves as the main channel of lifelong learning today. In Russia, however, the World Wide Web comes second to more traditional ways of learning. So Konstantin Fursov and Elena Chernovich, research fellows at the HSE's Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge (ISSEK), found in their study Monitoring Innovative Behaviour in the Russian Population in 2013

The markets for healing and witch doctors are often developed in smaller cities and also serve nearby rural areas as well. Such centres of “informal healthcare” most commonly thrive among individuals who have become disappointed with traditional medicine or among those who do not have access to traditional medicine, Yulia Krasheninnikova, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Management’s Department of State and Municipal Management at HSE Perm campus, said in the study “Beyond the Healthcare System: The Development of Alternative Health Services in Urban and Rural Areas.”

Immigrants from Central Asia are only partially integrated into life in Moscow and are not using many of the city’s resources and opportunities. Their way of life and living standards differ drastically from those Russians who live and work in the Russian capital. Immigrants from former Soviet republics work on weekdays and do household chores or socialise among themselves on weekends, and thus have difficulty adjusting to life in a big city, according to a study by Ekaterina Demintseva and Vera Peshkova published in the HSE's Demoscope Weekly

The high turnover of researchers and lecturers at universities cannot be fully explained merely by low pay or a lack of opportunities for self-fulfillment. Sometimes, young people choose an academic career for reasons other than an interest in research; they may take a postgraduate course to escape military service, to defer employment, or to meet society's expectations, according to Anastasia Sizykh, Research Fellow of the HSE's Institute of Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge (ISSEK)

Russia will better be able to treat cancer, tuberculosis, HIV, strokes and heart attacks if it develops its own success stories in several medical fields of the future. Firstly, it is necessary to improve regenerative medicine, biomedicine, genomic research, the production of medicines that target specific health problems, and molecular diagnostics. It will otherwise be difficult to increase the life expectancy in the country and strengthen Russia’s position on the world market for medical technologies, Alexander Chulok says in an article published in HSE’s journal Foresight-Russia, 7(3), for 2013