Demografie, 64(2): 91–105
https://doi.org/10.54694/dem.0296

Abstract
The study explores trends in the field of obstetrics in Czechia in the context of fertility postponement and attempts to identify whether and to what extent the increase in caesarean section (CS) births can be attributed to increasing maternal age and to what extent other factors play a role. The study examines the incidence of CS births using data published by the Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the Czech Republic (IHIS CR), and the detailed analysis employs anonymous individual data extracted from the National Health Information System in 2018 that cover maternal age and other characteristics relating to both mothers and newborns in Czechia. The analysis revealed that the increase in the total share of CS births between 1994 and 2018 was due both to the expansion of CS in all age groups and the change in the age structure of mothers, which accounted for 22% of the increase in the overall CS rate.

Keywords
caesarean section, labour, fertility postponement, maternal age, Czechia, ART

Demografie, 64(2): 106–123
https://doi.org/10.54694/dem.0298

Abstract
This article summarises the use of administrative data sources in population and housing censuses. It discusses the main advantages and drawbacks of combined and fully register-based censuses compared to traditional ones. The move from traditional to register-based censuses seems inevitable given the public’s decreasing willingness to participate in the traditional form of enumeration. The article also describes the methods applied in the Czech 2011 census regarding record linkage and identifying overcoverage in the population register (ISEO) and highlights the most important impacts the use of administrative data has on census results.

Keywords
Population and housing census, Czechia, administrative data sources, overcoverage

Demografie, 64(2): 124–138
https://doi.org/10.54694/dem.0301

Abstract
This article aims to contribute to the discussion of the factors that could affect reproductive plans over the next three years. According to the results of the Contemporary Czech Family survey, which was conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic in December 2020 and April 2021, the desire to have a (or another) child in the near future is primarily influenced by the number of children a family already has and by the values associated with parenthood. Socioeconomic changes brought about by the pandemic are not yet being reflected in parental plans.

Keywords
Covid-19 pandemic, reproductive plans, Czech Republic

Demografie, 64(2): 139–157
https://doi.org/10.54694/dem.0302

Abstract
Fertility postponement and fertility ageing are the most important changes in demographic reproduction that have occurred in post-communist countries in Europe. This process has been found to have begun earlier and to be more dynamic in the Central European post-communist countries]. It turns out that fertility postponement has mainly affected first births. Closely related to this finding is the question of whether these maternal starts will be completed at an older age and what the total childlessness rates will be. Post-communist countries have long been among the countries in Europe with a relatively low rate of childlessness. The dynamic postponement of fertility and the first findings on the postponement transition among the affected cohorts suggest that this situation could change rapidly.

The main aim of the paper is to analyse the process of the postponement and recuperation of first-order fertility in Visegrad countries from a cohort perspective. Using the benchmark model, we identified the beginning, dynamics, and development of the postponement and recuperation measures and derived recuperation index from these measures. The results show that not only are there some differences between countries at the beginning of the postponement, but there are also differences in the extent of this postponement and in the success of subsequent recuperation at an older age. As a result, an intercohort deepening of differences in childlessness rates can be expected. The resulting scenarios indicate that Czech women could be the most successful in this respect, while in other countries childlessness can be expected to exceed 20%. The worst situation may occur in Poland.

Keywords
Childlessness, first births, postponement, recuperation, V4

Demografie, 64(2): 159–174
https://doi.org/10.54694/dem.0299

Abstract
The paper seeks to answer the question as to why Czechia has become an attractive target for CBRC (cross-border reproductive care) and how the ART (assisted reproductive technology) situation manifests itself in Czechia. The situation in Czechia is compared to that in France, Italy, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, the countries from which the largest proportion of people seeking fertility/ART treatments travel to Czechia. The aim is not only to determine the differences in terms of the use of ART between these countries, but also to shed light on the causes and consequences of the higher intensity of CBRC.

Keywords
assisted reproduction, cross-border reproductive care, use of ART, availability of ART

Demografie, 64(2): 175–196
https://doi.org/10.54694/dem.0303

Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has been reported in the demographic literature primarily with concern to the increase in mortality rates. Most countries, including the Czechia, have sought to prevent an increase in mortality rates through the introduction of measures to prevent (or at least mitigate) the spread of the disease across their populations. This report presents an overview of measures introduced by the Czech government during 2020 and 2021. It addresses specifically those measures that acted to restrict the free movement of persons, the imposition of respiratory protection precautions, the restriction of the operation of retail outlets, services and schools and measures that applied to employees and employers. It presents, inter alia, a chronology of the availability of vaccines and defines particular periods of the pandemic based on the severity of the measures imposed. Briefly, it defines four levels of restrictions, the highest of which restricted the operation of companies via the imposition of government measures in the period 27 February to 11 April 2021. The years 2020 and 2021 are divided into a total of 13 periods that were characterised by various degrees of restriction. These periods are illustrated in the conclusion of the report in the context of the development of pandemic indicators (the numbers of tested, vaccinated, infected, hospitalised and deceased persons). Government measures, together with changes in the intensity of the mortality rate, need to be taken into account in the study of other demographic processes since the government-imposed restrictions may well have exerted a direct effect on the intensity of marriages, divorces and migration, and thus indirectly on fertility levels.

Keywords
COVID-19, government measures, Czechia