Family and Fertility in Poland: Changes during the Transition Period

Poland like other East European Countries experienced a lot of changes in course of demographic processes during the transition period. I this paper the main concern is put on presentation and evaluation of family and fertility changes during the transition period, ie,. years 1989-2001. The evaluation of changes in Poland is presented in comparison to the selected European Countries. The paper trys to give answer to the following questions: . How has fertility changed in Poland?; How have family formation and dissolution changed in Poland?; Have the observed changes in the patterns of fertility, family formation and dissolution had an effect on family life cycle in Poland? How should the changes in fertility patterns and the family model be assessed and interpreted?; How is Poland ranking in Europe with her changes in fertility and family?; What are the main problems concerning the family and fertility, which can and should be topics for further discussion in Poland?

Badania jakościowe na użytek demografii

Although the qualitative approach is not the core one in demography, demographers show an increasing interest in this type of research. An aim of this article is to outline the benefits of applying the qualitative methods in the population studies. The article starts from sketching the main characteristics of the qualitative methodology. The logic of the qualitative research process is presented and the possible procedures of sampling, data collection and data analyzing are described. Next, some examples of the recent qualitative research projects are given, which deal with the problems of population dynamics. We choose the ones that investigate the fertility and family dynamics, indicating what additional insights can be gained by adding the qualitative methods to statistical analyses. Our focus is on the two studies that explore the lowest-low and delayed fertility in the Polish context. We summarize the paper by delineating the main benefits of combining qualitative and quantitative methods in the field of population studies, strongly advocating such mixed approach for the future demographic research

Changing attitudes and behaviour concerning contraception and abortion in Poland

The study on changes in attitudes towards contraception and abortion and the study on changes in attitudes towards contraception and abortion and the contraception use among generations at the procreative age in Poland is based on the data coming from two Polish Retrospective Surveys carried out in 2001 and 2006. Poland is a country with very restricted abortion law, very few legal abortions. Additionally, available data on contraception show that its use and methods applied are still far from patterns observed in other countries of Europe. In parallel, Poles have changed considerably their procreative behaviour after 1989 – TFR dropped to the lowest-low level (1,2 in 2003) and despite some improvements fertility in Poland remains low (TFR reached 1.4 in 2009). In the last two decades the Polish society, considered to be a traditional Catholic society, is undergoing a deep social transformation, including also changes in values and norms (social, religious, legal norms, etc.), important for attitudes and behaviour related to family. The unique data coming from two surveys makes it possible to investigate how views on abortion and contraception evolve over time and to analyse contraceptive behaviour. Descriptive and model-based analyses refer to relevant determinants usually mentioned in the literature: the education attainment, the role of social networks and the religiosity as well as some personal attributes. The results revealed that the increasing number of people accepts contraception unconditionally. For those who declare their approval for contraception in some situation the number of children is a decisive determinant. Contraception patterns are being slowly modernised - condoms are still the most preferred means followed by contraceptive pills. The natural methods are in use mostly by couples. In addition, there is still quite remarkable the percentage of people declaring no contraception use. Attitudes towards abortion seem to undergo some polarisation. The dominant opinion claims that it is a couple’s decision to terminate a pregnancy while the opposing group perceives abortion as strongly immoral. The role religion in people’s life also matters for attitudes towards abortion. However, a relatively strong disapproval is declared also among persons who do not regard religion as important in their life while some religious people permit abortion. As hypothesised, Poles’ attitudes regarding family-planning and their behaviour changed considerably. Results of testing the role of the education attainment, social networks and the religiosity reveal the complexity of family-planning decisions, which strongly depend on the socio-cultural background and personal preferences. The picture seems to suggest the diminishing role of religiosity and ongoing individualisation process in terms of methods of birth control

Trwałość pierwszych związków w kohortach urodzeniowych 1951-1960 oraz 1961-1970

A family, as the basic social unit has been a subject to statisticians’ and demographists’ research for many years. Recently, the marriage institution has changed not only regarding the age at which people marry and the number of children they have but also in terms of its stability. At the same time, alternative forms of family appeared, mostly cohabitations. Such a variety complicates analysis of functioning and stability of a family. It becomes even more complicated regarding the fact that cohabitation often precedes marriage thus it needs to be decided whether it should be analyzed independently or rather in relation to the marriage that comes next. However, increasing divorce rate as well as cohabitations which are more common lead to the question on the stability of marriages and informal relationships as well as other changes observed recently in this area. The main objective of the study is to analyze and compare the stability of first relationships for women from birth cohorts 1951–1960 and 1961–1970. Cohort analysis makes it possible to present the changes in marital stability that have been observed for women from demographic decline cohort (1961–1970) as compared to women from demographic bulge cohort (1951–1960). Analyzed data comes from the questionnaire D (Fertility in Poland) of the National Population and Housing Census 2002

Fertility, family formation and dissolution: comparing Poland and Estonia 1989–2005

The article presents a comparative analysis of changes in fertility and family formation and dissolution, in Poland and Estonia, in the years 1989–2005. Both countries were members of the socialist bloc and launched political, economic and social system reforms at the end of the 1980s. Estonia belongs to Northern Europe, geographically referred to as Baltoscandia, and Poland to the region of Central Europe. Using basic demographic indicators, and the position of Poland and Estonia in Europe, fertility and family related processes are analysed in the context of their transformation in European countries. The article consists of two parts. The first one presents an assessment of changes in fertility. In addition to general indicators, the Bongaarts–Feeney formula is applied to measure the tempo and quantum effects during the period of rapid fertility transformation. The second part focuses on family formation and dissolution process. Both fertility and family changes, in Poland and Estonia, are considered in the broader European perspective. The findings concerning the diversity of analysed demographic changes may be summarized as follows. Both countries differ in terms of the tempo of changes, that began at the turn of the 1990s. In Estonia, the changes followed a steeper trajectory, with the drop of fertility and marriage rates to bottom levels during 6–8 years after the onset of transformation. After reaching the lowest point, both fertility and marriage rates entered a new stage and started to recuperate. In Poland, the changes featured a more gradual profile and were spread over a longer period. Although the decrease has slowed down with respect to fertility as well as marriage rates, the data until 2005 do not yet reveal any significant recuperation. Another country-specific feature of fertility and family transformation concerns the interrelationship between fertility and nuptiality. Although gradually weakening, Poland still features a relatively strong connection between childbearing and registered marriage, which is reflected in a comparatively low share of children born outside wedlock and a modest prevalence of non-married cohabitation among young people. In Estonia, the disconnection of fertility from marriage and the spread of pre-marital cohabitation started nearly at the same time as in the Scandinavian countries and accelerated rapidly, since the onset of societal transition. The strengthening of these dissimilarities was also revealed by comparisons with other European nations. The results of the Bongaarts-Feeney’s model also seem to indicate, that the observed differences are likely to persist in the foreseeable future. In general, the results support the assertion, that among the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Estonia and Poland provide valuable grounds for in-depth comparative research, on the recent fertility and family changes. Life history data, available due to the new round of national surveys carried out in both countries after the turn of the millennium, offer a favourable basis for in-depth studies, along the envisaged lines

Kobiety wobec polityki - kobiety w polityce: historia, realia, perspektywy

Praca recenzowana / peer-reviewed pape

The Demographic Crisis and Global Migration – Selected Issues

Currently the world is undergoing a serious demographic shift, characterised by slowing population growth in developed countries. However, the population in certain less-developed regions of the world is still increasing. According to UN data, as of 2015, (World… 2015), 244 million people (or 3.3% of the global population) lived outside their country of birth. While most of these migrants travel abroad looking for better economic and social conditions, there are also those forced to move by political crises, revolutions and war. Such migration is being experienced currently in Europe, a continent which is thus going through both a demographic crisis related to the low fertility rate and population ageing, and a migration crisis. Global migrations link up inseparably with demographic transformation processes taking place globally and resulting in the changing tempo of population growth. Attracting and discouraging migration factors are changing at the same time, as is the scale and range of global migration, and with these also the global consequences. The focus of work addressed in this paper is on global population, the demographic transformation and the role of global migrations, as well as the range and scale of international migration, and selected aspects of global migrations including participation in the global labour market, the scale of monetary transfers (remittances) and the place of global migration in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Transforming… 2015) and the Europe of two crises (Domeny 2016)