The number of Russian families that have received a certificate for maternity (family) capital in PFR is 5.5 million today.
The most popular way to spend the maternity capital in Russia is still housing improvement: about 2,7 million families have transferred their funds to that purposes. Of these, with the help of the maternity capital 1,75 million families partially or fully paid off the housing loans worth 638 billion rubles. Another 905 thousand families improve their housing conditions by spending maternity capital in the amount of 300 billion rubles for direct purchase, construction or reconstruction of housing without the involvement of credit.
In addition to improving living conditions, maternity capital can be directed to pay for education or content of any of the children in the educational institution and to augment of the future pension of the certificate owner. Thus, the PFR has already received 146 thousand applications for children’s education worth 7.4 billion rubles and 2.4 thousand applications for funds to be transferred to the accumulated part of mother’s pension worth 476 million rubles.
As for the timing of the program of state support for families with children, the Pension Fund reminds of necessity to child who gives the right to the certificate was born or adopted before 31 December 2016 in order to be eligible for maternity capital in accordance with applicable law. In this case, the certificate and direction of its funds not limited in time.
Thus, for families that eligible to maternity capital there is no need to rush to its disposition, especially consider the fact that the size of the maternity capital is indexed annually. Its size has increased from 250 000 rubles in 2007 to 429 408 rubles 50 kopecks in 2014.