Fertility postponement is one of the most important trends in the demographic behaviour in Slovakia after collapse of previous political regime. The reproduction model which was primarily characterized by early motherhood began to diminish in late 1960s and with every new generation, it loses further ground. It is manifested in continuous rise in cohort mean age at first birth and a significant intergenerational drop in the cohort fertility rate. The benchmark analysis of cohort fertility has enabled us to analyse in detail the onset of the fertility postponement transition in Slovakia, as well as its dynamics and ultimate extent. We have also been able to identify the differences in the recuperation of the deferred births. Our analysis has confirmed that the earliest onset of fertility postponement can be found in Slovakia among women born in the first half of the 1970s. The formation of a new reproductive model in younger ages culminates in cohorts born in the 1980s. It also appears that the main cause of cohort fertility decline is caused by the low level of recuperation of second and higher births. The first order fertility is the most affected by the postponement process, but most of these deferred births are born in higher ages. Therefore the most important for the future development of fertility in Slovakia will be on how successful will women born in the 1970s and 1980s were in carrying out their deferred second pregnancies.
The study identifies main characteristics of persons entering together into marriage in Slovakia in the period 1992 – 2018. We focus on the analysis of age, marital status, education and nationality of the engaged couple. The major question of the paper is whether the transformation of family and reproductive behaviour in Slovakia is reflected in the patterns of assortative mating. The results of the analysis pointed to the fact that the Slovak marriage market and patterns of partner behaviour still show a high degree of homogamy. Most partners entering the marriage have the same nationality, education and a similar age. However, we can identify features that clearly point to changes in the choice of partner and speak of its greater diversity. These are based on both structural (possibilities and opportunities to marry a particular person), social (social barriers between groups) and individual (preferences, values, etc.) factors, which undergo significant changes over the period. The wedding market is also "opening up" and modern patterns of partner behaviour are gradually being added to the traditional patterns of assortative mating.
The study identifies main characteristics of cohabitations by analysing population and housing census from 2011. The results of the analysis confirmed existing differences in the structure and intensity of formation of cohabitations, depending on marital status, educational attainment, ethnicity, religion, place of residence, present and the number of births. Unmarried cohabitations in Slovakia are heterogeneous forms of partnerships and we can find them in different periods of life paths of individuals.
The transformation of reproductive behaviour in Slovakia after 1989 brought several historically unique and dynamically ongoing changes. One of them is the increase in the number and share of children born out of wedlock. In less than three decades, their representation has increased from less than a tenth to 40%. The historically valid model of reproduction realized almost exclusively in marriage received serious cracks, and Slovak society had to face this important pluralizing factor in reproductive and family behaviour. However, this is in contrasts with the almost minimal scientific interest in this issue. Therefore, the main goal of the paper is to try to analyse some selected aspects associated with the process of extramarital fertility and birth out of wedlock. On the one hand, we tried to point out some major developmental changes on the other hand we tried to identify some differences that could be associated with more frequent births of children of unmarried women, as well as to identify some internal demographic factors behind the increase in the share of illegitimate children since the early 90s. As our findings show, the youngest women, Roma women and people with low education have a higher chance of having a children out of wedlock in Slovakia. In terms of space, this phenomenon is more often present in women from medium-sized and small settlements, somewhat more often from the rural environment and districts of southern central Slovakia. The main demographic factor behind the increase in the proportion of children born out of wedlock is the growth in the number and proportion of unmarried women, and to a lesser extent, the growth of extramarital fertility.
The article deals with the first special census in Slovakia, which took place just after the establishment of Czechoslovakia in 1919. It not describes only its basic milestones but also points out and evaluates its uniqueness and significance. Despite the fact that its results have never been comprehensively evaluated and due to the fragmentary nature of the information it will not happen in full, in the history of Slovakia it was an exceptional and extensive event of the newly created public administration after the establishment of Czechoslovakia.
Postponement of childbearing and age pluralization of reproduction are the main features of the transformational changes in the fertility process in Slovakia in the last three decades. The advanced reproductive age is increasingly used for the realization of reproductive intentions and, therefore, this paper evaluates long-term trends in fertility at age 35 and over and its significance for overall fertility within the context of changes that took place after 1989. The results confirm an increase in the level of and in the contribution of late fertility to the overall reproduction in Slovakia. However, this trend has stagnated in recent years and the level and contribution of late motherhood to overall fertility lags significantly behind the situation observed in the interwar period. Further, the parity structure of late childbearing has transformed. We find that the contribution of second and higher parity births has been reduced in favour of first births. With respect to non-marital childbearing, we find that it is below average in the advanced reproductive ages, in spite of rapid increase of overall share of non-marital births in the past 30 years. We use differential analysis of the late fertility to investigate trends in population subgroups. The intensity of late childbearing has increased regardless of marital status, educational attainment, ethnicity or place of residence of the mother. At the same time, however, there was a certain divergence between the observed groups of women. Late motherhood is thus associated primarily with never-married and married women, with those having lowest and highest educational attainments, of Slovak ethnicity and with those permanently resident in the urban environment, particularly in the largest cities and, consequently, in the Bratislava region.
The post-war situation in Slovakia required not only the solution of acute problems, but gradually issues related to the organization of the economy, its focus and management also came to the fore. In addition, food supply and solutions to a number of problems associated with the allotment system remained crucial. However, huge population movements and the associated overall changes in numbers and population structures posed an insurmountable problem for their planning. The impossibility of using the results of older population censuses, as well as the unreality of the earlier implementation of the first post-war population census, eventually led to a compromise solution in the form of a register of the civilian population in 1946. The aim of the article was to present the register in terms of its focus, methodology, preparation, course, as well as the content itself, and last but not least, we will also try to analyse some basic results.
Families with one child are not a very common phenomenon in Slovakia from a historical point of view. The model of early and almost universal motherhood was accompanied by a significant inclination towards a family of two or more children. However, in younger cohorts we identify a gradual growing trend. Despite this trend, knowledge about one-child families in Slovakia is considerably limited. The aim of this paper is a detailed analysis of the historical development of one-child families and its possible development in cohorts of women born since the mid-1970s, whose reproductive behaviour has been most affected by the society-wide transformation of the last three decades. In the next section, we focus on the question of which women in Slovakia more often had one child. Based on census data, we identify differences in the representation of women with one child by marital status, education, nationality, religion and place of residence. The obtained results confirm that especially in cohorts of women born in the 1970s, we can expect relatively dynamic growth of one-child families up to the limit of one quarter. Towards younger cohorts, their share could gradually decline, especially given the expected increase in childlessness. In terms of existing differences, the results confirmed a more frequent one-child model among women with higher education, divorced women, people living in large cities, an in the Bratislava region. Slightly more often, women without religion, women of Protestant and Evangelical religion, as well as women of Hungarian ethnicity had one child.
The main objective of this study is interested primarily in the inter-individual diversity in fertility according to the parity distribution of women reproduction in Czech Republic and Slovakia. The authors identify a sharp decline in the concentration of reproduction during the 20th century at very low levels. It was primarily the result of a very low childlessness with combination of significant domination of the two-child family model. This trend has reversed for the most recent cohorts. It appears that this development mainly triggered by pluralization of reproductive behaviour. The youngest cohort tends to increase childlessness as well as increase the proportion of women with only one child. The growing concentration of reproduction suggests that future society in Czech Republic and Slovakia should not simply focus on “average” women (or mother) but should take into an account a wide spectrum of orientations and life strategies.
Women in Slovakia and in other countries in Central and Eastern Europe whose reproductive years overlapped with the previous political regime rarely opted not to have children, and childlessness thus became a marginal phenomenon. This study provides a detailed reconstruction of long-term childlessness trends among women in Slovakia. In addition, we focus on the changes in cohort fertility and especially in first births in connection to the future development of childlessness among women born in the late 1970s and the first half of the 1980s. A very important goal of this paper is to look more closely at a group of women who remain childless in a society where people married and had children at very early age and where becoming a mother was a general norm. Our analysis is based on the Population Censuses. Using the childlessness rate and binary logistical regression, we attempt to identify characteristics which determine whether women will remain childless or not. The main finding of this analysis is that Slovakia has experienced a U-shaped pattern in permanent childlessness in cohorts between 1900 and 1970. The lowest level was observed among women born around 1940. Cohorts from the late 1960s and the early 1970s experienced rapid increases in childlessness. According to our estimations the childlessness level among women born in the first half of the 1980s may reach 18 – 20 %. A detailed analysis of the structural characteristics of the childless women showed family status and education to have a significant impact on the likelihood to remain childless. Likewise, certain differences in childlessness levels are also found in women by nationality, religion and their place of residence.
The study examines the development of population policy in socialist Slovakia in connection to reproductive behaviour between 1948 and 1989. The paper analyses the nature and gradual spreading of various types of population measures aimed at pregnant women, the period of childbirth and postnatal care, interruptions, the life of families with children, as well as the entry into the marriage and its legislative extinction. As our contribution has shown during the Socialist regime, a complex system of different forms of population measures was gradually developed. They represented an important part of the overall complex of external factors influencing the intensity, timing and character of the reproductive and family behaviour of the socialist Slovakia.
The main aim of the paper is to highlight the importance of remaining years of life in relation to demographic ageing. We use the V4 countries as our case study and analyse demographic ageing using the concept of prospective age and the relevant indicators to consider whether statutory retirement age should be readdressed given the rise in remaining life expectancy among seniors. The classic indicators show that ageing is increasing in the V4 countries. Using prospective indicators we can see that not only is the level of ageing significantly lower but that it is progressing more slowly, and in some cases reversing. The prospective approach could also be important in setting pension age as it reflects changes in life and the principle of equitability. Also the results show that the way how pension age is fixed in the V4 countries may pose a risk to the sustainability of pension systems.
The paper is concerned with the main changes of direction in population policy in Slovakia in the period 1918–1945. Gradual appearance and deepening of changes in reproductive behaviour in the framework of the demographic revolution was characteristic of this period. The number of births decreased and so did infant mortality. On the other hand, limited possibilities for application outside the primary sector forced many people of productive age to seek employment abroad. The population policy of inter-war Czechoslovakia was contradictory and unsystematic. On the one hand, it strove to raise the birth rate, especially in relation to the very low fertility in the western parts of the state, but on the other it promoted migration to solve the problem of unemployment. After break up of Czechoslovakia and the formation of the Slovak state, various measures were introduced with the aim of increasing the population. However, these were not intended for the Jewish and Roma populations. They were subjected to racial persecution by law.
The educational structure of young women in Slovakia is undergoing significant qualitative changes. Its main features include a historically unique inclination to the tertiary degree. Extending the study period and increasing participation rates in education are closely linked to these changes. At the same time, several important changes in the intensity, timing and nature of reproductive behaviour are taking place in Slovakia. Together, they are part of the overall transition to adulthood. Women's education is generally considered to be one of the most influential predictors of their demographic behaviour. Educational attainment and enrolment are strongly related to fertility tempo and quantum, family size, union formation and partnership choices. However, the influence of these factors is a lesser-known phenomenon in Slovakia. The main aim of the article is to point out the differences in realized fertility, differences in the structure of women according to parity, the impact of changes in parity progression ratios on the completed cohort fertility according to women's education. In the second part, we focus on cross-sectional changes that occur after 1989. We analyse not only the intensity of fertility, but also changes in the timing and concentration of fertility according to the age and education of the woman.
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