ABSTRACT
The twentieth-century history of population and family in Central and Eastern Europe has claimed scholarly attention from multiple perspectives. Population changes have a significant impact on modernity, which, in contrast to premodern times, can be characterized as a period of swift demographic transformations. Demographic behaviour influences several important aspects of social life. It shapes gender roles, particularly by decreasing the number of children and postponing the age of birth. It also affects social stratification, as different social classes have historically exhibited different birth rates. By influencing the structure and size of the labour force it exerts a major impact on the economy, for example by creating agrarian overpopulation or what is called the demographic ‘window of opportunity’, a period of time when the population of adults starts to prevail over the population of children, and the population of the elderly has not expanded yet, thus presenting a chance for economic breakthrough. Population change also shapes consumption patterns in various ways, for example declining birth rates result in a drop in the share of income spent on basic necessities. Demography has a major impact on the development of education, as changes in birth rates create pressure to adjust the size and structures of education systems. The history of migration is closely intertwined with the history of transportation, and out-migration from the countryside is one of the most important factors in the development of urban–rural relations. Demographic transformation is among the most significant factors shaping modern social life.
