This chapter reveals the predictors for the birth of second and third children in Russia. The necessary but difficult return of Russian women to the labor market decreases the chances of having second and subsequent children. However, high wages and stable employment encourage further childbirth planning. The probability of having further children increases when a female is secure about either her husband’s income or her own position in the labor market. The chapter discusses modern theoretical considerations on high order births in Russia and Europe and then tests the empirical models based on the nationally representative RLMS-HSE panel household survey data for 2000–2009.

This chapter is based on the results of a study on mothers’ employment after first childbirth. Preliminary results were published in Russian in Voprosi Economici, 2015, in the article “Second and subsequent children in Russia” (Karabchuk, T.S., Mironova, A. and Remezkova, V.P., Vtorye i posleduyushchie rozhdeniya v Rossii, Voprosy ekonomiki, 2015, NO.6. (in Russian))