Geografie 2018, 123, 407-436

https://doi.org/10.37040/geografie2018123030407

Motherhood postponement and regional differences in fertility in Czechia and Slovakia

Luděk Šídlo1, Branislav Šprocha2

1Charles University, Faculty of Science, Department of Demography and Geodemography, Prague, Czechia
2Institute for Forecasting, Slovak Academy of Sciences, INFOSTAT – Demographic Research Centre, Bratislava, Slovakia

Received December 2017
Accepted July 2018

Since 1989, fertility in Czechia and Slovakia has undergone a unique and unprecedented transition. This is most evident in the postponement of conception. Some scholars are now referring to this as the postponement transition. Relatively detailed information is available on this transition at the national level, but the regional picture is often neglected. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the spatial differences in the character and rate of fertility after 1989. It also investigates the stability of spatial patterns and any changes that may have occurred owing to the postponement transition. The results show that the nature and trajectory of the fertility postponement transitions in Czechia and Slovakia share some similarities. The main spatial differences in fertility in the two countries relate to the pace and structure of fertility in relation to a woman’s age.

References

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