Demographic Transition In The Eastern And Central European Countries: Before And After 1990

The process of demographic transition involves the transition from high birth and death rates to low values and a relatively stable population growth rate. If in the countries of Western Europe this pattern can be seen easily, the question is how the demographic transition phenomenon manifests in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Specialized studies advance the hypothesis of a common pattern of evolution for these countries and propose that their entry into a crisis phase of demographic transition, mainly due to socio-economic and political conditions after 1990. In this paper, we propose to analyze the determinants of demographic transition process from 10 countries of Central and Eastern European region and advance the hypothesis that the so-called crisis of demographic transition is first an extension of the demographic trends of the period before 1990. Continuing the same trend in the next 20 years betrays a lack of reaction of these countries with consistent and stable demographic policies like the Western countries' model.