Our study examines how attitudes towards family and gender roles have changed since the ultimate collapse of communism in Hungary. With respect to evaluating the effects of the regime change, it is important to note that Hungary is unique in having pre-transition measures on attitudes from the International Social Survey Program. In analyzing the nature of value shifts, an arithmetic method that decomposes the changes into population turnover and individual (period) components is used. According to the results, period effects fluctuated over the quarter of century, while the population turnover effects point continuously and clearly towards liberalization of family and gender-role attitudes. Since the period effects were usually stronger, they shaped the fluctuating nature of overall change. Namely, there is a clear trend towards re-traditionalization immediately following the regime change and liberalization thereafter, although there are also signs of continued support for traditional values. The series of repeated modules of the ISSP allowed us to examine a key premise of the Second Demographic Transition (SDT) theory in the case of Hungary. We concluded that the detected direction of the attitude change does not support the examined premise of the SDT. * This article belongs to a special issue on “Demographic Developments in Eastern and Western Europe Before and After the Transformation of Socialist Countries”.
{"title":"A Quarter Century of Change in Family and Gender-Role Attitudes in Hungary","authors":"Z. Spéder","doi":"10.12765/cpos-2023-29","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12765/cpos-2023-29","url":null,"abstract":"Our study examines how attitudes towards family and gender roles have changed since the ultimate collapse of communism in Hungary. With respect to evaluating the effects of the regime change, it is important to note that Hungary is unique in having pre-transition measures on attitudes from the International Social Survey Program. In analyzing the nature of value shifts, an arithmetic method that decomposes the changes into population turnover and individual (period) components is used. According to the results, period effects fluctuated over the quarter of century, while the population turnover effects point continuously and clearly towards liberalization of family and gender-role attitudes. Since the period effects were usually stronger, they shaped the fluctuating nature of overall change. Namely, there is a clear trend towards re-traditionalization immediately following the regime change and liberalization thereafter, although there are also signs of continued support for traditional values. The series of repeated modules of the ISSP allowed us to examine a key premise of the Second Demographic Transition (SDT) theory in the case of Hungary. We concluded that the detected direction of the attitude change does not support the examined premise of the SDT. \u0000* This article belongs to a special issue on “Demographic Developments in Eastern and Western Europe Before and After the Transformation of Socialist Countries”.","PeriodicalId":44592,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Population Studies","volume":"59 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138954652","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lara Bister, J. Spijker, Fanny Janssen, Tobias Vogt
Existing research suggests adverse short-term health effects of economic crises during early life, yet, the long-term health effects for children and adolescents exposed to economic crises are still understudied. We investigated the early-adult health implications of experiencing the post-reunification economic crisis in East Germany in the early 1990s during infancy, childhood and adolescence. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and its linkage with German pension records (SOEP-RV), we applied entropy balancing and conditional quantile regression to assess the relationship between the experience of the economic crisis during early life (ages 0-17) and physical and mental health effects (SF-12 summary scores) in N = 2,337 young adults (aged 17-30) from East and West Germany. Our results indicate mainly no significant physical health effects, yet, significant adverse mental health effects for respondents exposed to the economic crisis in East Germany, especially in young women of average and better mental health. Parental unemployment was an additional risk factor for young women’s mental health. Thus, we suggest women who experienced economic crises during early life are at increased risk of adverse mental health effects already early in their adulthood. Support for families in times of economic crisis and early prevention for infants, children and adolescents exposed to economic adversities is warranted.
{"title":"Scarred for Life? Early-Life Experience of the Post-Reunification Economic Crisis in East Germany and Physical and Mental Health Outcomes in Early Adulthood","authors":"Lara Bister, J. Spijker, Fanny Janssen, Tobias Vogt","doi":"10.12765/cpos-2023-28","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12765/cpos-2023-28","url":null,"abstract":"Existing research suggests adverse short-term health effects of economic crises during early life, yet, the long-term health effects for children and adolescents exposed to economic crises are still understudied. We investigated the early-adult health implications of experiencing the post-reunification economic crisis in East Germany in the early 1990s during infancy, childhood and adolescence. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and its linkage with German pension records (SOEP-RV), we applied entropy balancing and conditional quantile regression to assess the relationship between the experience of the economic crisis during early life (ages 0-17) and physical and mental health effects (SF-12 summary scores) in N = 2,337 young adults (aged 17-30) from East and West Germany. Our results indicate mainly no significant physical health effects, yet, significant adverse mental health effects for respondents exposed to the economic crisis in East Germany, especially in young women of average and better mental health. Parental unemployment was an additional risk factor for young women’s mental health. Thus, we suggest women who experienced economic crises during early life are at increased risk of adverse mental health effects already early in their adulthood. Support for families in times of economic crisis and early prevention for infants, children and adolescents exposed to economic adversities is warranted.","PeriodicalId":44592,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Population Studies","volume":"84 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139003446","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Direct and indirect exposure to terrorist attacks can have a significant impact on major life decisions, including the choice of whether to have a child. This study aims to investigate how terrorist attacks affect fertility. By pooling data from three years of cross-sectional surveys conducted between 2010 and 2015 by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, our findings reveal a positive correlation between terrorist attacks and fertility among women of childbearing age in Pakistan. Specifically, the probability of giving birth two years following a terrorist attack in one’s home district, all else equal, is 64 percent, compared to the probability of a woman not giving birth two years following a terrorist attack, which is 36 percent. Furthermore, our analysis demonstrates that persistent terrorist attacks, that is, domestic and non-suicide incidents, result in higher probabilities of giving birth during a particular year. Conversely, less common and more prominent terrorist attacks – transnational and suicide incidents – result in lower probabilities of giving birth during a particular year. Additionally, we find that women from above-average-income households, those with higher education levels, older mothers, and those residing in rural areas are more likely to adjust their fertility upwards in response to terrorist attacks.
{"title":"The Impact of Terrorism on Fertility: Evidence From Women of Childbearing Age in Pakistan","authors":"Umer Javeid, Stephen Pratt, Han Li, Guochang Zhao","doi":"10.12765/cpos-2023-27","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12765/cpos-2023-27","url":null,"abstract":"Direct and indirect exposure to terrorist attacks can have a significant impact on major life decisions, including the choice of whether to have a child. This study aims to investigate how terrorist attacks affect fertility. By pooling data from three years of cross-sectional surveys conducted between 2010 and 2015 by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, our findings reveal a positive correlation between terrorist attacks and fertility among women of childbearing age in Pakistan. Specifically, the probability of giving birth two years following a terrorist attack in one’s home district, all else equal, is 64 percent, compared to the probability of a woman not giving birth two years following a terrorist attack, which is 36 percent. Furthermore, our analysis demonstrates that persistent terrorist attacks, that is, domestic and non-suicide incidents, result in higher probabilities of giving birth during a particular year. Conversely, less common and more prominent terrorist attacks – transnational and suicide incidents – result in lower probabilities of giving birth during a particular year. Additionally, we find that women from above-average-income households, those with higher education levels, older mothers, and those residing in rural areas are more likely to adjust their fertility upwards in response to terrorist attacks.","PeriodicalId":44592,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Population Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139229927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study examines excess mortality in South Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic. I analyze age-specific mortality rates and present an international comparison. First, Korean excess mortality remained low until the end of 2021 but significantly increased in early 2022. Second, this excess mortality was concentrated among older people. For example, cumulative excess mortality among the population aged 85+ years until the 30th week of 2022 was approximately 1-2 percent, that is, an additional 1-2 percent of this age group died compared with what we would have expected in the absence of COVID-19. Third, the international comparison demonstrates that excess mortality in South Korea was relatively low. The country experienced one of the lowest excess mortality rates among countries under study until the end of 2021, but excess mortality rapidly increased in early 2022. However, it returned to being comparatively low by mid-2022. This comparison shows cross-national variation in excess mortality, which may be associated with policy responses and public health infrastructure. Finally, I discuss implications and opportunities for future research.
{"title":"Excess Mortality During the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Korea","authors":"Bongoh Kye","doi":"10.12765/cpos-2023-26","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12765/cpos-2023-26","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines excess mortality in South Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic. I analyze age-specific mortality rates and present an international comparison. First, Korean excess mortality remained low until the end of 2021 but significantly increased in early 2022. Second, this excess mortality was concentrated among older people. For example, cumulative excess mortality among the population aged 85+ years until the 30th week of 2022 was approximately 1-2 percent, that is, an additional 1-2 percent of this age group died compared with what we would have expected in the absence of COVID-19. Third, the international comparison demonstrates that excess mortality in South Korea was relatively low. The country experienced one of the lowest excess mortality rates among countries under study until the end of 2021, but excess mortality rapidly increased in early 2022. However, it returned to being comparatively low by mid-2022. This comparison shows cross-national variation in excess mortality, which may be associated with policy responses and public health infrastructure. Finally, I discuss implications and opportunities for future research.","PeriodicalId":44592,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Population Studies","volume":"23 92","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135541214","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This is the Editorial on the Special Issue "Family Research and Demographic Analysis – New Insights from the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA)".
这是特刊“家庭研究和人口分析——来自德国家庭人口统计小组研究(FReDA)的新见解”的社论。
{"title":"Family Research and Demographic Analysis – New Insights from the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA)","authors":"Martin Bujard, Karsten Hank, Reinhard Pollak","doi":"10.12765/cpos-2023-25","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12765/cpos-2023-25","url":null,"abstract":"This is the Editorial on the Special Issue \"Family Research and Demographic Analysis – New Insights from the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA)\".","PeriodicalId":44592,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Population Studies","volume":"88 2","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134906698","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Frans Willekens, Katrin Schiefer, Nikola Sander, C. Katharina Spieß
In this editorial note, we reflect on the trajectory of Comparative Population Studies (CPoS) over the last decades, highlight major milestones along the road, and sketch our hopes and ideas for its future development. In 1975, the predecessor journal of CPoS named ZfB was established as the scientific journal of the newly founded German Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB). As the Institute grew its international collaborations and the journal transitioned from German to English language, ZfB became CPoS. Today, we are pleased that the journal has grown in statue and attracts high-quality submissions from scholars around the globe. Looking ahead, we envision CPoS as a unique open-access journal in the field of population studies where innovation, scientific rigor and attention to quality work hand-in-hand to advance population studies and respond to societal challenges.
{"title":"The Past, Present and Future of CPoS","authors":"Frans Willekens, Katrin Schiefer, Nikola Sander, C. Katharina Spieß","doi":"10.12765/cpos-2023-24","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12765/cpos-2023-24","url":null,"abstract":"In this editorial note, we reflect on the trajectory of Comparative Population Studies (CPoS) over the last decades, highlight major milestones along the road, and sketch our hopes and ideas for its future development. In 1975, the predecessor journal of CPoS named ZfB was established as the scientific journal of the newly founded German Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB). As the Institute grew its international collaborations and the journal transitioned from German to English language, ZfB became CPoS. Today, we are pleased that the journal has grown in statue and attracts high-quality submissions from scholars around the globe. Looking ahead, we envision CPoS as a unique open-access journal in the field of population studies where innovation, scientific rigor and attention to quality work hand-in-hand to advance population studies and respond to societal challenges.","PeriodicalId":44592,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Population Studies","volume":"19 4","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135169128","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In the period of post-communist transition, Central Europe witnessed complex and multifaceted mobility processes; permanent outmigration, of an ethnic or labour-related nature, coexisted with temporary, seasonal, or cross-border movements and an increasing influx of foreigners. To study these complex processes, we have chosen to apply a holistic and comprehensive approach, rather than limit conceptual considerations to one theory of migration determinants. We focus on eleven post-communist countries that joined the European Union (EU-11) and on the period extending from around 1989, covering the EU’s eastward enlargement, to the present. The aim of this study is twofold: first, we propose a general conceptual framework, based on the aspirations/capabilities approach, to present the main determinants of emigration from this part of the European continent. Second, in relation to each determinant, we formulate research questions postulated by selected theories of international migration and present the evidence, based on existing empirical studies, that addresses these questions. The paper contributes to the literature by providing a broad interpretation of post-transition mobility and pointing to commonly overlooked explanatory factors. We highlight the importance of economic factors that have enhanced and directed the outward migration from the EU-11 to selected EU member states and selected economic sectors; in particular, as regards capabilities, these factors include the lifting of labour market restrictions, high demand in the secondary sector of labour markets, and the roles of migration networks and the migration industry. Emphasis is also placed on aspirational factors, such as labour market failures and the substantial aspirational gap resulting from improvements in high educational attainment in the countries of origin. The aspirations/capabilities approach serves well as a general framework of migration determinants, but its explanatory power is enhanced by reference to other, more specific theories of migration. We show that a combination of the complementary approaches provides a more refined and in-depth picture of migration from the region.
* This article belongs to a special issue on “Demographic Developments in Eastern and Western Europe Before and After the Transformation of Socialist Countries”.
{"title":"Emigration From Post-Communist Central Europe After 1989 Interpreted Within the Aspirations/Capabilities Framework","authors":"Agnieszka Fihel, Paweł Kaczmarczyk","doi":"10.12765/cpos-2023-23","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12765/cpos-2023-23","url":null,"abstract":"In the period of post-communist transition, Central Europe witnessed complex and multifaceted mobility processes; permanent outmigration, of an ethnic or labour-related nature, coexisted with temporary, seasonal, or cross-border movements and an increasing influx of foreigners. To study these complex processes, we have chosen to apply a holistic and comprehensive approach, rather than limit conceptual considerations to one theory of migration determinants. We focus on eleven post-communist countries that joined the European Union (EU-11) and on the period extending from around 1989, covering the EU’s eastward enlargement, to the present. The aim of this study is twofold: first, we propose a general conceptual framework, based on the aspirations/capabilities approach, to present the main determinants of emigration from this part of the European continent. Second, in relation to each determinant, we formulate research questions postulated by selected theories of international migration and present the evidence, based on existing empirical studies, that addresses these questions. The paper contributes to the literature by providing a broad interpretation of post-transition mobility and pointing to commonly overlooked explanatory factors. We highlight the importance of economic factors that have enhanced and directed the outward migration from the EU-11 to selected EU member states and selected economic sectors; in particular, as regards capabilities, these factors include the lifting of labour market restrictions, high demand in the secondary sector of labour markets, and the roles of migration networks and the migration industry. Emphasis is also placed on aspirational factors, such as labour market failures and the substantial aspirational gap resulting from improvements in high educational attainment in the countries of origin. The aspirations/capabilities approach serves well as a general framework of migration determinants, but its explanatory power is enhanced by reference to other, more specific theories of migration. We show that a combination of the complementary approaches provides a more refined and in-depth picture of migration from the region.
 * This article belongs to a special issue on “Demographic Developments in Eastern and Western Europe Before and After the Transformation of Socialist Countries”.","PeriodicalId":44592,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Population Studies","volume":"27 8","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135412739","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sandra Krapf, Isabella Buber-Ennser, Martin Bujard
In this study, we compare the intended number of children in Germany, Moldova and Norway in 2020 and 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a first step, we compare the intended number of children (including children born) in the newly available Generations and Gender Survey round 2 (GGS-II) and the German FReDA-GGS data. In a second step, we estimate the number of further intended children with multinomial logistic regression models. The results reveal considerable differences across the three countries. Respondents in Moldova plan to have rather large families (on average 3.3 children, including children born), whereas individuals in Norway and Germany intend to have 2.0 and 1.8 children, respectively. In the multinomial logistic regression analyses, we find differences in the association of educational level and fertility plans by gender and country. In Germany, education is positively related to the intention to have further children. This pattern is more pronounced for women than for men. Furthermore, this association is also found among Norwegian men. In Moldova, we find only weak evidence for this association. For Norwegian women, education and the intention to have further children also seem to be unrelated. While most data about the intended number of children refer to the 2000s or earlier, we contribute to the literature by providing recent insights on the intended number of children in three European countries, including Moldova, a country that is understudied in demographic research.
* This article belongs to a special issue on “Family Research and Demographic Analysis – New Insights from the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA)”.
{"title":"Education and Intended Number of Children in Germany, Moldova and Norway: An International Comparison Using FReDA and GGS-II-data","authors":"Sandra Krapf, Isabella Buber-Ennser, Martin Bujard","doi":"10.12765/cpos-2023-22","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12765/cpos-2023-22","url":null,"abstract":"In this study, we compare the intended number of children in Germany, Moldova and Norway in 2020 and 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a first step, we compare the intended number of children (including children born) in the newly available Generations and Gender Survey round 2 (GGS-II) and the German FReDA-GGS data. In a second step, we estimate the number of further intended children with multinomial logistic regression models. The results reveal considerable differences across the three countries. Respondents in Moldova plan to have rather large families (on average 3.3 children, including children born), whereas individuals in Norway and Germany intend to have 2.0 and 1.8 children, respectively. In the multinomial logistic regression analyses, we find differences in the association of educational level and fertility plans by gender and country. In Germany, education is positively related to the intention to have further children. This pattern is more pronounced for women than for men. Furthermore, this association is also found among Norwegian men. In Moldova, we find only weak evidence for this association. For Norwegian women, education and the intention to have further children also seem to be unrelated. While most data about the intended number of children refer to the 2000s or earlier, we contribute to the literature by providing recent insights on the intended number of children in three European countries, including Moldova, a country that is understudied in demographic research.
 * This article belongs to a special issue on “Family Research and Demographic Analysis – New Insights from the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA)”.","PeriodicalId":44592,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Population Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136034199","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sindhu Vasireddy, Ann Berrington, Bernice Kuang, Hill Kulu
This paper reviews research on education and childbearing in Europe over the last decade. Early demographic research attributed declining fertility in advanced economies in the second half of the twentieth century to increasing female educational levels. The twenty-first century has witnessed further increases in educational attainment coupled with trend reversals in fertility. The relationship between education and fertility has become more complex, sparking renewed interest in the interplay between the two life domains. We examine how educational enrolment and attainment influence individuals’ fertility behaviour – both fertility timing and level – and how the relationship between education and fertility is shaped by contextual factors such as family policies, macroeconomic shocks, and normative changes in gender attitudes. We also summarise the recent literature on educational gradients in male fertility and review methodological developments to address issues of self-selection and unmeasured heterogeneity in the study of education and fertility. Finally, this paper identifies and discusses challenges and important areas for future research.
{"title":"Education and Fertility: A Review of Recent Research in Europe","authors":"Sindhu Vasireddy, Ann Berrington, Bernice Kuang, Hill Kulu","doi":"10.12765/cpos-2023-21","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12765/cpos-2023-21","url":null,"abstract":"This paper reviews research on education and childbearing in Europe over the last decade. Early demographic research attributed declining fertility in advanced economies in the second half of the twentieth century to increasing female educational levels. The twenty-first century has witnessed further increases in educational attainment coupled with trend reversals in fertility. The relationship between education and fertility has become more complex, sparking renewed interest in the interplay between the two life domains. We examine how educational enrolment and attainment influence individuals’ fertility behaviour – both fertility timing and level – and how the relationship between education and fertility is shaped by contextual factors such as family policies, macroeconomic shocks, and normative changes in gender attitudes. We also summarise the recent literature on educational gradients in male fertility and review methodological developments to address issues of self-selection and unmeasured heterogeneity in the study of education and fertility. Finally, this paper identifies and discusses challenges and important areas for future research.","PeriodicalId":44592,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Population Studies","volume":"67 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136309219","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990 and EU enlargement in 2004 are two major political events in the recent history of the Central and Eastern European region. By systematically comparing the changes and differences in life expectancy at birth between the seven new member countries from Central and Eastern Europe and more advanced countries of the EU-15, this article attempts to identify the vanguards and laggards in the health convergence process before and after the 2004 EU enlargement. The results of decomposition analysis highlight the changing patterns of age- and cause-specific contributions to the differences in life expectancy. Finally, we focus on the variations in the progress in reducing the burden of cardiovascular diseases and external causes of death, which were known to be responsible for the long-term mortality crisis during the period of communist rule. Our findings suggest that the collapse of the communist regimes led to immediate positive changes in the Central European countries. At the same time, health disadvantages persisted and even worsened in the Baltic countries. Later on, joining the EU in 2004 was not accompanied by immediate systematic convergence of life expectancy. However, very rapid progress in the initially worst performing Baltic countries after 2007 and especially during the 2010s, may suggest a delayed positive impact of EU enlargement leading to decreasing longevity disadvantage. The convergence process after 2004 was generally slower in the initially better-performing four Central European countries. Despite these country-specific variations, Czechia, Poland, and, especially, Estonia remain clear health vanguards in the region. Further progress requires much more systematic efforts to combat cardiovascular diseases and the persisting burden of excess male mortality at adult working ages.
* This article belongs to a special issue on “Demographic Developments in Eastern and Western Europe Before and After the Transformation of Socialist Countries”.
{"title":"Is East-West Life Expectancy Gap Narrowing in the Enlarged European Union?","authors":"Domantas Jasilionis, France Meslé, Jacques Vallin","doi":"10.12765/cpos-2023-20","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12765/cpos-2023-20","url":null,"abstract":"The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990 and EU enlargement in 2004 are two major political events in the recent history of the Central and Eastern European region. By systematically comparing the changes and differences in life expectancy at birth between the seven new member countries from Central and Eastern Europe and more advanced countries of the EU-15, this article attempts to identify the vanguards and laggards in the health convergence process before and after the 2004 EU enlargement. The results of decomposition analysis highlight the changing patterns of age- and cause-specific contributions to the differences in life expectancy. Finally, we focus on the variations in the progress in reducing the burden of cardiovascular diseases and external causes of death, which were known to be responsible for the long-term mortality crisis during the period of communist rule. Our findings suggest that the collapse of the communist regimes led to immediate positive changes in the Central European countries. At the same time, health disadvantages persisted and even worsened in the Baltic countries. Later on, joining the EU in 2004 was not accompanied by immediate systematic convergence of life expectancy. However, very rapid progress in the initially worst performing Baltic countries after 2007 and especially during the 2010s, may suggest a delayed positive impact of EU enlargement leading to decreasing longevity disadvantage. The convergence process after 2004 was generally slower in the initially better-performing four Central European countries. Despite these country-specific variations, Czechia, Poland, and, especially, Estonia remain clear health vanguards in the region. Further progress requires much more systematic efforts to combat cardiovascular diseases and the persisting burden of excess male mortality at adult working ages.
 * This article belongs to a special issue on “Demographic Developments in Eastern and Western Europe Before and After the Transformation of Socialist Countries”.","PeriodicalId":44592,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Population Studies","volume":"23 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135063366","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}