Demografické správanie obyvateľstva štátov európskej únie – podobnosti a rozdiely
Demographic Behaviour of Inhabitants in EU Member States – Similarities and Differences

Summary/Abstract: Demographic behaviour is the behaviour of people associated with the demographic reproduction in the complex meaning of its comprehension, which is directly related to individual demographic events. The natural movement of population is the result of demographic (population) behaviour. At the level of the European countries we observe a long-term noticeable spatial differentiation in all processes of natural population movement, associated with different socio-economic conditions. In the process of development of the natural movement of the European countries we may see several analogies (parallels), despite a certain delay. In the sixties of the 20th century, along with the economic growth, demographic changes arose in most original member states of the European Union. These changes have been marked as the second demographic revolution. In the newly-accessed states major changes concerning the demographic behaviour occurred in the period of the society transformation in the nineties of the 20th century. During this period negative changes occurred in the economic situation. A delayed coming of the second demographic revolution in newly-accessed states is counterbalanced by a higher speed and intensity of changes. Differences in demographic behaviour between the „old and “new” European Union member states are gradually wiped off and states are converging. An exception can be still observed in considerable differences at the level of life expectancy in new-born babies. Since the beginning of the 21st century we have observed tendencies in several stabilization processes in all EU countries although there are several reasons for it. For example, we follow the stabilization of levels of natality, fertility, nuptiality, as well as infant mortality and life expectancy in new-born babies. The aim of this paper is to analyze the long-term development and the current status of the population demographic behaviour of countries in Europe with special regard to the 27 states of the European Union. The effort is to identify similarities and differences in the studied demographic behaviour of the population of the European Union member states in the context of theoretical models and concepts.

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