Demographic Behaviour in Europe: Some Results from FFS Country Reports and Suggestions for Further Research

Abstract

As part of its FFS project the Economic Commission for Europe of the United Nations in Geneva has launched an international comparative research programme to come to a better understanding of the changes in reproductive behaviour and family formation in the ECE region. This paper provides a basis for the identification of specific research topics. The paper starts by looking at the main trends that can be observed from registration data. It is obvious that Europe is far from homogeneous with respect to demographic behaviour. There are, for example, remarkable contrasts in the patterns of marriage and divorce. The paper shows that some more insight about the level and trends can be derived from results of the FFS Standard Country Reports. It is also argued that the FFS biographies would best be used in conjunction with contextual data to predict future demographic developments.