Definition of Youth
The Federal Agency for Youth Affairs describes youth as between 15-29. According to a Youth Policy Briefing (2009), the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) specifies the following age groups under the umbrella category of youth: 10-14; 15-19; 20-24; 25-29.
Marriageable Age
- Opposite Sex
- Same Sex
- Without parental consent
- with parental consent
- Male
- 18
- 16
- --
Candidacy Age
- Lower House
- 21 Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union
- Upper House
- --
Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union
Entirely appointed.
Criminal Responsibility
(1996)
Situation of Young People
Literacy Rates
- 99.66% Male (15-24) %
- 99.75% Female (15-24) %
- Year: 2015
- Source: UNESCO
Net Enrolment Rate
Secondary School- --Male %
- -- Female %
- Year: No data.
- Source: UNESCO
Situation of Young People
Tobacco Use
Consumed any smokeless or smoking tobacco product at least once 30 days prior to the survey.- 30.10% Male (13-15) %
- 24.40% Female (13-15) %
- Year: 2010
- Source: WHO
Policy & Legislation
The aim of the youth development strategy (2013) is to contribute to socio-economic development. It defines objectives, priorities, instruments, long-term evaluation benchmarks, parameters for youth policy investment in consideration of youth needs. The strategy places emphasis on patriotism, family, morality, justice, a healthy lifestyle and respect for nature. It takes a clear human capital approach, with emphasis on developing the key competencies of youth including innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship, sociability, solidarity and efficiency. In line with this approach the measures included focus on two main areas: the transition to full labour market integration and the value orientations of young people.
Public Institutions
(ministry, department or office) that is primarily responsible for youth?
Youth and Representation
Budget & Spending
- % of GDP
- % of gov. expenditure
Source: World Bank
Gaps indicate missing data from the original data source. (Accessed August 2013).
Additional Background
The new model of state youth policy must be:
- long-term, until 2025;
- comprehensive, covering factors ensuring development (or at least preserving) the human capital of young people;
- interdepartmental, including all ministries and federal agencies, regional and municipal levels, whose activity affects the human capital of young people;
- interregional, given the spatial and geographical differences in youth population and therefore needs for human capital development throughout the Russian Federation;
- intersectoral, taking into account the interests and needs of the many ‘subjects’ within the Russian administrative and governance system that are involved in the implementation of youth policy;
- intergenerational, taking into account the concerns and interests of the different generations in the Russian Federation.
The state budget funding for youth policy should include three components:
- institutional funding for the stable functioning and development of youth organizations and for supporting the infrastructure of youth policy;
- project financing, aimed at increasing the flexibility of the institutional structure, encouraging new players to enter the field and supporting youth organizations;
- program funding, which should serve to strategically address long term problems of youth policy and support youth protection infrastructure.
To achieve an active stance in addressing youth development, rather than its current compensatory role, the annual state budget for the specific youth policy would have to increase from 2 to 5 Billion Rubles annually, and better coordination of state resources allocated to youth by other sectors is required. While Rossmolodezh can act effectively using such resources, it is furthermore necessary to provide financial support for those youth organizations cooperating with it. The creation of Youth Resource Centres across the ‘subjects’ of the Russian Federation would help to increase the effectiveness and quality of youth policy provision. The creation of a Council for Youth Policy under the auspices of the President of the Russian Federation and of an Interdepartmental Commission of the Government of the Russian Federation on Youth would go some way to addressing the needs of cross-sectoral youth policy development and implementation. Furthermore, such bodies require evidence of the state of youth to underpin their activities. Relevant scientific research should be commission through Rossmolodezh initially, and in a second step specialized institutes for youth research could be developed. Finally, this transition to a new model of state youth policy is a large-scale organizational undertaking, requiring measures to train the federal, regional and local government human resources and broader categories of personnel who will be responsible for the implementation of youth policy.