historical demography

Complex families are one of the variants of a household that combines several married couples. For a number of reasons, such families enjoyed the support of the state, landlords and the peasant community for a long time. However, after the Great Reforms, complex families began to transform under the influence of socio-economic processes. The article assesses the prevalence of a complex family among the peasant population of the Russian Empire and its changes in the second half of the 19th century.

This article compiles historical and demographic research on the structure of a peasant family in the North in the XVI - XVII centuries. Conclusions of the authors of the Soviet period are reviewed in accordance with the currently accepted classification of the families of Peter Lasletta. Special attention is paid to the peculiarities of methods of determining the family structure in the XVI century.

The article is devoted to the study of level and reasons of mortality in peasant environment of the Oryol province on microdemography level. Based lie with statistics registers of births settlements Oryol province, kept in the State archive of Oryol region. For the study Bolhov typical localities, and Kromsk and Livensk counties of Oryol province were taken.The study of peasantry mortality is important for the study of historical and geographical differences between large regions of Russia. 

One of the less widespread variants of peasant households were single households. The economic, legal and cultural norms of the traditional agrarian society contradicted the emergence of structures of this type. However, they were constantly present in different regions of the country in different time periods. The aim of the work is to study peasant single households of the Saratov province of the late XIX century. In this connection the primary materials of the zemstvo household censuses of the 1880–1890s will be investigated.

 Fraternal households belong to the category of specific complex households consisting of cohabiting single-generation couples. As a rule, their appearance is the result of an unfulfilled family section for one reason or another. Due to their structural exoticism, fraternal families are easily identified and compared. At the same time, by virtue of their peculiarity, fraternal families are more likely unstable collectives, prone to disintegration.