Abstract: The study presents the results of the survey, conducted in 2010 in Saratov region in order to study the attitudes of young people aged 17-30 (N = 241) towards marriage, family, cohabiting and the number of children in the family. Studies demonstrate the existence of global trends in the contemporary institution of marriage and the family from the standpoint of Russian youth: increasing the share of cohabitation, more loyal attitude of young people to have children born out of wedlock, leaving the birth of children in relation to education and employment, reducing the value of the family in general hierarchy of values of young people. The study contains the analyses of the research data, conducted in the USA, European countries, Russia and Nepal in the time period 2009-2012 as well.