Ethno-Confessional Peculiarities in the Marriage Rate of the Southern Urals Rural Population (Late 19th – Early 20th Century)

The article examines ethno-confessional features in the marital status of the rural population of the Orenburg and Ufa provinces in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. A brief analysis of the scientific literature shows the insufficient knowledge of this topic. The main sources for this article are statistical materials on the marital status of rural population, published in the series "Statistics of the Russian Empire", "Statistical Yearbook of Russia", as well as in local publications "Economic and Statistical Review of the Ufa province...". Local publications of statistical sources provided more detailed information about the marital status of the population, in particular, in the Ufa province. The poly-confessional composition of the rural population of the Southern Urals largely determined the peculiarities of the marriage rate: the Orthodox in the Orenburg province, consisting mainly of Russians, had a high one, while the Muslims had a slightly lower one. In Ufa province, on the contrary, the marriage rate was higher among Muslims. The article examines the confessional features of marriage by age.