Page:NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SURVEY 18; CZECHOSLOVAKIA; THE SOCIETY CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110015-7.pdf/12

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following the war. Since the early postwar years, however, the birth rate has been in a general decline, primarily because of extensive birth control practices, and now, along with other Central European countries, is among the lowest in the world. From a postwar high of 24.2 per 1,000 persons in 1947, the birth rate dropped to a record low of 14.9 in 1968. Since then the rate has shifted upward to reach 17.3 per 1,000 persons in 1972. Between 1950 and 1968 the number of births declined by 26%, considerably higher than the average Eastern Europe decline of 16%.

The two major divisions of Czechoslovakia have long had strikingly different demographic characteristics. Those of the Czech Lands, comprising the western three-fifths of the country, are typical of Western Europe whereas those of Slovakia are more typical of Eastern Europe. The birth rate has been consistently lower in the Czech Lands than in Slovakia (Figure 2). The gap in the death rate, however, was closed as living conditions and medical facilities in Slovakia improved during the interwar period. Since the early 1950's, the death rate in Slovakia has been lower than that in the Czech Lands primarily because the population is younger. Hence, natural increase in Slovakia was twice as high as that in the Czech Lands in the interwar period and has been as much as three times higher than that in the Czech Lands in recent years. Infant mortality, however, continues to remain higher in Slovakia, which had an infant death rate of 25.4 per 1,000 live births compared with 19.3 for the Czech Lands in 1972.

Czechoslovakia's slow population growth has led to chronic labor shortages which pose a major economic problem to the country. The regime embarked on a number of schemes during the 1960's to stimulate population growth, offering financial inducements such as family allowances, maternity benefits (increased again in 1970 and 1971), rent reductions for families with similar children, and reduced tax rates for larger families. Running counter to this, however, are many factors conducive to family limitation, such as inadequate housing, the difficulty of supporting more than two children, the increasing employment of women, and the availability of abortions.

In the mid-1950's the countries of Eastern Europe followed the Soviet lead in relaxing their abortion laws. This is generally recognized to have been a decisive step, since it provided government sanction to efforts to limit the size of families. Abortion in Czechoslovakia had been legal exclusively for medical reasons, but in 1957 virtually all limitations were removed. A sharp rise in the number of abortions followed until 1961, when the government, concerned over the declining birth rate, imposed new restrictions. Although these were effective for a few years, in 1964 the abortion rate again began increasing. The number of abortions jumped from 94,000 in 1964 to 125,000 in 1970, but during 1971 the number fell to 122,000 and during 1972 to 118,000. The number of abortions in 1972 represented one abortion for every 2.1 births.

Data on life expectancy at birth reveal striking results in the control of disease over the past 40 years:

Life expectancy values for males have not improved significantly since 1955 and those for females remained much the same since 1960. Nonetheless, the 1972 values for both sexes are among the highest in the world. Furthermore, the values are about the same in Slovakia as they are in the Czech Lands. The differences between the values for the two sexes—6.8 years in 1972—is clear evidence of a more favorable mortality pattern for females.

Should mortality decline at a moderate pace and fertility remain at the 1971 level, the population is projected to increase slowly—from 14.6 million in midyear 1973 to 15.1 million in 1980, to 15.4 million in 1985, and to 15.6 million in 1990. These projections imply that the average annual rate of population increase will decline from 6.2 per 1,000 in 1972 to 4.5 in 1980, to 3.4 in 1985, and to 3.1 million in 1990.

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