The urgent demographic situation has led to an acute awareness of the necessity of far-reaching decisions to strengthen the family and implement radical measures of family policy. Many experts are talking about the crisis of the institution of the family, about the loss of the importance of family values among a substantial portion of Russians, especially young people. However, surveys by the All-Russian Center for Public-Opinion Research (VTsIOM) provide evidence that the reverse is the case. In the structure of the life values of the overwhelming majority of respondents the value of the family, the home, and domestic comfort is ranked far in the lead above many other values of unquestioned significance, values such as love, self-realization in profession, friendship, and so on. It is worth noting that to a large extent this is also characteristic of Russia's young people. At the same time, many years of research by VTsIOM indicate that there has been a transformation of the institution of marriage and the family in present-day Russian society. The changes affect just about all aspects and sides of family life, in particular there has been a significant rise in rates of divorce. Reasons for wishing to divorce are a mix of economic, social, and personal factors. Divorce is no longer perceived as something that is extremely negative and unacceptable. This article discusses what has changed in the perceptions of Russians regarding marriage and divorce. (Contains 12 figures and 1 note.)