This paper provides a detailed evidence on recent fertility changes in the countries
of Central and Eastern Europe and offers an interpretation of these changes. It
focuses on the ten-year period of 1989-1999, which witnessed the most intensive
changes in childbearing patterns, such as rapid decline in period fertility rates,
postponement of childbearing and an upsurge in the proportion of non-marital
births. Changes in fertility are analyzed with the use of data collected by national
statistical offices, further complemented by evidence from the FFS surveys
(Fertility and Family Survey) and RHS surveys (Reproductive Health Survey).
The paper discusses the notion of a socialist greenhouse - an artificial
environment that shaped people’s lives during the communist era. Changes in
fertility and family formation over the 1990s are perceived as results of the
collapse of the socialist greenhouse, which was mutually facilitated by two basic
dimensions: broader social changes and new economic constraints. Particular
attention is paid to the rapidly evolving differentiation of fertility patterns across
Eastern Europe and the role of the cultural-religious tradition in this
differentiation.