Due to the differences in historical and cultural traditions, geopolitical development and standard of living, the big differences in reproductive and marital behaviour occur between the particular world regions, which lead to differences in the development of the number and structure of population and families. Big differences in the population development between particular parts of the world cause that from the world-wide point of view Europe seems to be a relatively homogenous region.
If we look at Europe in a more detailed way we shall find out that differences between the individual countries are not negligible and what from the world-wide standpoint seems to be similar, is actually not similar so much. In principle Europe can be divided into 4 regions with similar demographic development – West Europe, North Europe, South Europe and East Europe. In particular European regions the historical and geographical closeness acts as an unifying factor, together with the similarity of political and socio-economic systems. Obviously, each country has its peculiarities, which specify the country also within the particular sub-regions.
Slovakia, according to its reproductive behaviour, belongs to the East-European region, which is the less homogenous European region also from the demographic standpoint. It links countries with the Middle-European and East-European traditions, differently touched by the communist regime and differently involved into the European integration. In accordance to their reproductive behaviour some countries in this region have already approached the West Europe, some countries are however far away from it. Generally speaking, the closer to the East, the higher the differences are. With the ongoing transformation the differences between particular countries are diminishing, although in several post-communist countries the transformation has brought also some extreme values (probably only temporarily), mainly in the development of nuptiality and fertility. A more definitive picture on the demographic situation will be feasible only after the end of transformation and after the running of some compensation demographic processes.
Slovakia, also the standpoint of the Middle-European region is interesting because it links the countries with the common history, a close mentality and the blended population environment. Here belong Austria, which from the demographic point of view is part of West Europe and five post-communist countries, which according to their reproductive behaviour have approached most closely the West-European demographic model.
When looking at demographic characteristics we can say that in Middle Europe three couples of countries have arisen. Slovenia has mostly approached the West-European reproductive model and together with Austria it forms the first couple. The next couple is formed by Poland and Slovakia, which have maintained the majority of elements from the old reproductive model. The Czech Republic and Hungary are placed somewhere in the middle.
Demographic situation in the European Union
After expansion to 25 member countries the EU is more heterogeneous. This is true also from the demographic aspect, although as the time is passing the differences in the reproductive behaviour are diminishing. In the current demographic situation the impact of both, the 40-year post-war breakdown of Europe and the consequent transformation process in post-communist countries, which began at the turning point of 80-ties and 90-ties and has been persisting practically until nowadays, is fading out.
Nuptiality and divorce
The nuptiality and divorce behaviour of population is closely connected to the national cultural traditions and is influenced also by different legal standards in particular countries. The current differences in nuptiality and divorce (especially between the old and the new EU member states) are also the consequence of a different attitude to marriage and divorce, which have existed in the politically divided Europe as an reaction to a different social situation.
In general we can say that the level of nuptiality in the old EU member states is relatively stable and in the new member states the fall ceased; in majority of cases we are currently the witnesses of a compensation increasing of nuptiality due to the feasibility of postponed marriages. A general trend in the whole EU is the ongoing increase of the mean age at first marriage, which owing to the development in the past and the current level is quite logically more intensive in the new member states. Also nowadays certain differences remain, which origin from the period of politically divided Europe, for which two different models of reproductive and marital behaviour were specific. The prevalence of post-communist countries currently record a low nuptiality level (except for Lithuania and Poland) and the low mean age at first marriage (except for Slovenia). The old member states record a higher nuptiality level (except for Belgium, Sweden and Austria) and higher mean age at marriage (except for Portugal and Belgium). Among the old member states a group of South-European countries can be separated, which record a relatively high nuptiality and different age at marriage. In Portugal the mean age at first marriage is roughly at the level of Middle-European states, in Greece, Italy and Spain it is at the level of West Europe.
If we do not take into account the extremely high nuptiality in Malta and above all in Cyprus, in other EU countries the differences are not too high. Between Denmark ranked at the third place and Slovenia ranked at the last place is the difference in the nuptiality level 64%, what as compared to other demographic processes is not a big difference. In addition to Denmark, also Portugal, Greece and Italy can be placed into the group with relatively high nuptiality (but substantially lower than in two mentioned countries). The lowest nuptiality in the EU is recorded in addition to Slovenia, also in Estonia, Latvia and in the Czech Republic. In general we can say that the highest nuptiality in the EU is currently in the south and north (except for Sweden) and the lowest in the east (except for Poland and Lithuania). Belgium and Luxembourg, together with several East-European countries, ranked among the countries with the lowest level of nuptiality in the EU.
The international comparison of data on divorce is complicated not only by different legislation but also by the changing system of values of population, together with the increasing share of cohabitations without marriage, on the breakdowns of which no records exist. The high divorce rate in the majority of EU member states can be assessed as the part of processes of assertion of a free choice in each spheres of life; the same is true for reproductive and marital behaviour. These processes are corrected or weakened in some countries mainly by the religiosity of population and the higher impact of church, which are reflected also in the corresponding legislation.
The divorce behaviour in Europe is stable despite the moderately increasing level and the changes in the political development at the end of 20th century did not have any significant impact. There are great differences in the level of divorce between the particular EU countries, substantially higher than in case of nuptiality. On the one hand there are countries like Sweden, Belgium and Finland, where more than half of marriages are getting divorced, on the other hand there are Malta and Ireland, where no divorces exist. The Czech republic, Estonia and Denmark can be ranked among countries with high divorce rate, where more than 0,45 divorce fall on one marriage. On the contrary, the low divorce rate (below 0,25 divorces per one 1 marriage) is in all South-European EU member states and in Poland.
Natality
Currently, the development of natality is drawing attention in the advanced countries mainly due its low level. In none of the EU member states the natality does not reach the replacement level. Differences in the level of fertility and timing of births between the EU member states are most of all the consequence of the political breakdown of Europe in the second half of 20th century and the resulting different social relations and the standard of life. The social transformation, which in the post-communist countries had begun after the fall of iron curtain, only finalised the different fertility development in the former political blocks.
With regard to the level of fertility we can divide the member states into two groups - North and West European countries with the total fertility rate above 1,5 children per one women during her entire reproductive period and the South-European and East-European countries with the fertility below this level. The group with lower fertility level is more numerous, in addition to member states from South and East Europe, also Austria and Germany belong here. The lowest fertility in the EU is recorded in the post-communist countries; Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Slovenia belong to the last triplet too. The less numerous groups of countries with the total fertility rate from 1,5 up to 1,9 is led by Ireland, followed by France, which still remains a country with the highest fertility increase during the recent years. With a certain distance, the northern countries, together with Netherlands and Great Britain, are placed.
If the age at first birth is in consideration, we can also form two groups of countries, being aware that the increase of the mean age at birth is the Europe-wide trend. The post-communist countries (including Slovakia, however, less Slovenia) belong into the group with lower mean age of women at first birth (less than 26 years). In all other EU countries the mean age of women at first birth is 26 years and over, while in some countries (Spain, Netherlands, Luxembourg) the level of mean age has approached the age of 30. The difference between countries with the highest and lowest mean age of women at first birth (Spain, Estonia) is more than 4,5 years.
With only minor exceptions, we can say that the share of children born outside marriage is increasing in the EU member states. The differences between particular countries are significant, while the political breakdown of Europe from the past plays in this case a less important role. Rather the impact of cultural and religious factors is in question. The low fertility outside marriages is recorded in the countries with high level of religiosity and traditionally with the great influence of church, i.e. in Poland and Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Malta. In these countries the share of children born outside marriage does not exceed 17%. However, in the majority of Middle-European countries and in some West-European countries the share of births outside marriage moves in scope of 20%-35%. From the group of South-European countries, Spain and Portugal belong into this group. Traditionally the highest fertility outside marriage is in the Northern and Baltic countries (except for Lithuania). Also France a Slovenia belong into this group. A deep gap between the countries with the highest and lowest share of births outside marriage (16 time more in Estonia than in Cyprus), is caused by a very low level of fertility outside marriage in Cyprus.
The differences between the "west" and "east" remained mainly in mortality. The higher mortality and the consequent shorter life expectancy at birth in case of both sexes is recorded in the post-communist countries. The only exception is Slovenia, which has succeeded in ranking among the countries of West, North and South Europe (especially in terms of the mortality of women). The mortality has a remarkable persistence and big differences, which arose in the second half of 20th century, are compensated only step-by-step.
The less favourable situation in the mortality development at both sexes is in Baltic countries, Hungary and in Slovakia. The situation in Poland and the Czech Republic is a bit more favourable, however, also these countries keep visibly behind the European average. From the post-communist countries only Slovenia ranked among the group of advanced countries, although it records the highest mortality of men among the countries belonging into this group. The lowest mortality in the EU is in the north and south. In terms of men, among the seven countries with the lowest mortality (the life expectancy at birth is above 76 years), there are five South-European countries, together with Sweden and Netherlands. In case of women, four countries record the life expectancy at birth higher than 82 years - Spain, France, Italy and Sweden. The favourable situation in mortality in the north and south of Europe can be confirmed by Finland ranking at fifth place. The difference between the EU member countries with the highest and lowest mortality is remarkable. In case of men the newly-born child in Sweden will live by 12,6 years more at the average than in Estonia. In case of women, the difference in life expectancy at birth between Spain and Hungary is 7,1 years. It is obvious that in post-communist countries the situation is unpleasant especially in terms of mortality of men.
In all EU member states women experience an older age than men. In the old member states the difference in life expectancy at birth is 4-5 years for the benefit of women, in member states from the former east block it is 8-12 years (consequence of already mentioned high excess male mortality in the former east block). The greatest differences are in thee Baltic countries (more than 11 years).
The situation in infant mortality does not differ significantly from the situation in overall mortality. The highest mortality of children up to 1 year is in Baltic countries, as well as in Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. The lowest mortality up to 1 year is in Sweden, Finland and Spain. Among the EU member states with the lowest infant mortality has ranked also the Czech Republic (4th place) and Slovenia (5th place).
It is well known that mortality is prevailingly the reflection of the standard of living, to which also the health-care and life style are connected. Therefore, even the relatively high differences in mortality between the particular EU member states do not sufficiently characterise the mortality situation in Europe because they do not capture the deep gaps between the most advanced European countries and the non-member states in the East Europe. Just to mention some interesting facts - at the average, the men in Ukraine and Russia live roughly by 17 or 20 years shorter than men in Sweden. In the life expectancy at birth they keep behind the last EU country - Estonia by 2,7 or 6,5 years respectively. The Turkish and Russian women are in the life expectancy at birth behind the Spanish women by 12 years and are more by 4 years behind Hungary, which records the highest mortality of women in the EU.
Number and increase of population
In 25 EU countries there were more than 455 million inhabitants at the end of 2003. The biggest EU country is Germany with more than 80 million inhabitants, followed by France, Great Britain and Italy with the population number closely below 60 million. The biggest new EU member state is Poland with 38 million inhabitants. Slovakia belongs among the small EU countries. Also Denmark and Finland record approximately the same number of population as Slovakia. In the EU there are 8 countries with the number of population lower than 5 millions, while Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta record less than 1 million inhabitants.
In 2003, 13 EU countries recorded the natural increase of population, i.e. the number of live-births exceeded the number of deaths. In Austria and Greece the natural increase was roughly zero and in the remaining 10 member countries the number of deaths was higher than the number of births. Among countries with the natural decrease of population are all member states from the former eastern block, together with Italy and Germany. In 2003 the lowest natural decrease of population was recorded in Slovakia (0,01%), the highest in Baltic countries and in Hungary (more than 0,3%). The highest natural increase was reported by Ireland (0,8% in 2003), followed by Cyprus, Netherlands and France with the annual natural increase by more than 0,3%.
The EU member states record prevailingly benefits from migration, i.e. in the majority of countries the gains from migration compensate the unfavourable demographic development . Thus, there is a lower number of countries recording total decrease than of those, who report natural decrease - only 6. The unpleasant situation is especially in Baltic countries (total decrease of population is in the range of 0,38 - 0,53% annually). Here the effect of the low natality with the high migration losses is combined. The number of population is reduced also in Hungary, Poland and Germany. Other EU countries have recorded until now a total population increase. In 2003, Slovakia belonged into the group of countries, which recorded the total population increase only thanks to the positive net migration (together with the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Italy). The highest total increase of population (more than 1,5% annually) is recorded in Cyprus, Ireland and Spain. Italy is closely below the level of 1% .
Age structure of population
Typical feature of all EU member states is the population ageing. The population is getting older in all member states with no exception. The significant differences between the particular countries are in the progress and the rate of this process. Population ageing is caused by the fall of fertility and mortality. The youngest population is in the countries with the highest fertility (Malta, Cyprus and Ireland) and also in some post-communist countries, which in the past belong to countries with the highest fertility in Europe and in which the changes in the reproductive behaviour began later than in the old member states (Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania). From West European countries the youngest population is in Luxembourg and Holland. In all these countries the ageing index is at the level being lower than 80, what means that less than 80 people at the post-productive age (65 and over) fall per 100 children aged up to 15.
In the countries of West and South Europe the ageing process has progressed to the greatest extent. The fertility and mortality had been decreasing from the half of 60-ties of the previous century what was reflected also in the age structure of population. Currently there are 7 countries in the EU, in which the seniors prevail above the child component of population. The oldest population is in the South of Europe (Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Slovenia). Also Germany and Latvia belong into this group of countries with the highest ageing index. Italy, as the country with the oldest population in the EU, has recorded the ageing index being 2,5 times higher as compared to Ireland, which has the youngest population. While in Italy 135 people aged 65 and over fall on 100 people aged 0-14, in Ireland this number equals only to 53 inhabitants.