All the medical burden in such couples falls on the woman.
Russian retired men are increasingly trying to conceive children with young wives. According to "Baza", the number of ambitious grandfathers has doubled in the past year.
As andrologist Dmitry Moskvitchev from a clinical hospital told "Baza", almost 30% of his patients are such couples: the man is 65–80 years old, and the woman is 35–40. The relationships between those born during Khrushchev's era and those born during Gorbachev's are extremely serious: they come with reproductive plans. Most often, those wishing to become fathers again in retirement are affluent men, for whom the current marriage is already the third or fourth. Their wives are usually a couple of times younger. They really want children, but health does not always allow them to conceive without medical assistance.
Gynecologist Marina Stepanenko says that all the medical burden in such couples falls on the woman. To conceive from an older partner, she often has to literally restructure her life: replenish iron and vitamin D deficiencies, lose weight, and improve sleep; otherwise, hormones will not stabilize. Some doctors even advise changing jobs, moving from a high-paced environment to remote work or part-time. Preparation takes at least six months, and without it, reproductive specialists often refuse to undertake IVF, especially if the woman does not have frozen eggs prepared before the age of 35.
Under the compulsory medical insurance system, there are restrictions: women over 35–40 years old are not always accepted, only with certain reproductive potential. As a result, most families pay out of pocket. One IVF protocol costs between 250,000 and one million rubles, plus a genetic test of the embryo before implantation — at least 50,000 rubles, to check if it is developing correctly. Successful attempts on the first try are almost non-existent — women undergo several cycles of stimulation, punctures, and implantations. Each failure takes a toll on mental health, empties the wallet, and often destroys relationships in the couple.
Nevertheless, official statistics offer hope: in 2022, the maximum age of a father in Russia was 73 years, and in 2023, it was 71 years.
