Session Speaker

Demographic Aspects of Reproductive Health of Women in European Countries
Jirina Kocourkova
Czech Republic

At present, the demographic reproduction in Europe can be characterized by three main aspects related to health issues: postponement of first motherhood into age close to 30 years, increasing use of assisted reproductive technology, and induced abortions. In the 1990s, one of the most significant novelties in the population reproduction was the emergence of extremely low fertility (below 1.3 children per woman). Currently, the European populations use less than 10 percent of their capacity to reproduce themselves. Contraceptive pills and liberal abortion legislation gave increasingly larger numbers of women the possibility to prevent becoming pregnant at younger ages. Consequently, it has resulted in an increase in infertility rates and thus higher demand on the use of ART. The ongoing postponement has narrowed the time span available for reproduction. Giving the recent trends in fertility and abortion level, in the age of first motherhood, and contraception use prevalence we will show whether the East-West divide in Europe still exists. To which extent the widespread postponement of first motherhood has contributed to low level of fertility and use of ART? What is the unbalance between reproduction loss induced by abortions and reproduction gain achieved by use of ART?