This article analysed the place of rural youth in the socio-structural processes taking place in the Russian countryside, using the findings of Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey of the population’s economic condition and health (RLMSHSU); conducted between 1994 and 2011, and of the Integrated Survey of the Living Conditions of the Population carried out in all 86 Russian regions in 2011. Rural youth (15 to 30 year-olds) are the first generation socialized in the period of cardinal institutional changes and market economy formation. They make up a great part of the rural population. This investigation showed that; in spite of the rise in the educational level, the share of the unemployed and occupied in the informal sector of the economy is great in the rural youth employment structure, which leads to the growth of poverty and migration. The material and financial status of young countrymen’s households and rural youth’s marital behaviour were also examined.