MPIDR Working Paper

Traces of the Second Demographic Transition in four selected countries in Central and Eastern Europe: union formation as a demographic manifestation

Abstract

Using data from the first round of the national Gender and Generations Surveys of Russia, Romania, and Bulgaria, and from a similar survey for Hungary, we study rates of entry into marital and non-marital unions and display manifestations of the Second Demographic Transition in these data. The transition did not start simultaneously in all countries, and above all it began well before the fall of communism and before the societal transition to a market economy got underway around 1990. Bulgaria is a special case whose trends need more attention than those of the other countries.