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.
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.
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