The Modern Ukrainian Family

What is the Ukrainian family of today?

According to statistics, over the past decade the average age of newly-weds in
Ukraine has significantly increased. The main reason for this is the introduction of
new market conditions and the lack of social guarantees for the population. This
encourages young people to get to know their future spouses better before getting
married as well as to save up enough money to base their family on.
Another reason for “aging” of the Ukrainian marriage is that more and more
women in Ukraine prefer to become mothers at a later period of their life (usually
at the age of 30), which historically was not typical of the Ukrainian nation.
Women do not want to financially depend on their husbands and that’s why pay
growing attention to their education and career.
According to the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, the number of
marriages registered in the country has decreased sharply over the past fifteen
years (from 490,000 in 1985 to 345,000 in 1999). It is interesting to note that
despite the decrease in the number of marriages, the number of divorces was
remained relatively stable. For example, while in 1985 there were 183,400 official
divorces, in 1999 they totaled 175,800. The saddest thing about divorces in
Ukraine is, perhaps, that 80 percent of them affect families with underage children.
80 percent of young Ukrainian families report the worsening of their financial
situation; and 64 percent have to rely on financial support from their parents. Only
2 percent answered that they earn a sufficient income to maintain their families.
Due to the lack of funds, 2/3 of young Ukrainian families cannot buy or rent
apartments and have to live either in youth hostels or share housing with either
spouse’s parents. Almost 1/3 of young Ukrainian families have no children; 63%
have one child; and only 6% raise two children.
As a positive trend, it should be noted that Ukrainian parents are now better
educated in child care and children’s psychology. They know not only how to feed
and care for the children, but also how to develop their abilities, give them the
basics of sexual education, etc.
Among other features that distinguish the modern Ukrainian family I can name
the fact that it is not unusual for the spouses to live in different cities or even
countries – primarily, due to the difficult employment situation in Ukraine. More
and more often children are born outside of marriage and raised without a father,
which is often the conscious choice of a woman.
However, these radical changes in the Ukrainian family are not always because
of economic hardships in the country. In many respects they reflect global family
planning tendencies. For example, a drop in birth rate and an increased number of
childless couples are observed throughout Europe as well as in the US.

Give the English equivalents for the following Ukrainian ones:

1) середній вік
2) наречені
3) відсутність соціальних гарантій
4) введення нових ринкових умов
5) залежати фінансово від кого-небудь
6) приділяти увагу
7) залишатися відносно стабільним
8) сім'ї, в яких є неповнолітні діти
9) погіршення фінансової ситуації
10) утримувати сім'ю
11) жити разом з батьками чоловіка або дружини
12) розвивати здібності дітей
13) риси, які відрізняють сучасну українську сім'ю
14) складна ситуація в працевлаштуванні
15) свідомий вибір
16) економічні труднощі
17) відображати глобальні тенденції в плануванні сім'ї
18) занепад народжуваності
19) сімейні пари, які не мають дітей.