4. The social framework of rural women in CEE countries

4. The social framework of rural women in CEE countries

The social and cultural framework has both similarities and differences among the project countries. Cultural differences have their origin in the historical and religious background of each country. Birth rate, family size and infant mortality are decreasing, while the medium age of marriage and of life expectancy at birth, as well as the divorce rate, are increasing. Infant mortality in all CEE countries, with the exception of Slovenia, is still twice as high as it is in Finland or Austria, and life expectancy for men is under 70 years in all the project countries, while it is 72.9 in Austria, 71.3 in Finland and 71.0 in Ireland. Life expectancy for women is on the same level in all the project countries - about 75 years while in Finland and Austria it is nearly 80 years. Slovenia has the highest female life expectancy of the CEE countries at 77.4 years. Mortality is highest in the Baltic countries and in Hungary.

The birth rate is highest in Slovakia (14.9/1 000), but it is also high in Ireland (15.0/1 000). Family size is comparatively small in all the project countries, ranging from 2.6 in the Czech Republic to 4.0 in Estonia and 3.6 in Slovakia. In rural areas families are slightly larger, and farming families have the largest number of children.

Marrying age is over 20 years in all the CEE countries except the Czech Republic, where the medium marrying age for women is 18 years. Divorce rates are highest in the Baltic countries, in the Czech Republic and in Hungary (Table 5).

Comparing the CEE countries with the reference countries, it can be seen that the CEE countries have higher infant mortality and general mortality rates than the reference countries (except Slovenia, which is on the same level with the reference countries), as well as a lower life expectancy than the reference countries. Birth rate, family size and the number of children, however, are on the same level; there are no large families either in CEE countries or in the reference countries.

Table 5: Demographic indicators, 1991

Indicator	Country
		Estonia	Latvia	Lithuania	Poland	Czech Rep	Slovakia	Hungary	Slovenia	Croatia	Bulgaria	Finland	Austria	Ireland
Birth rate (per 1 000 inhabitants)		11.8f	12.0 af	14 3a	13.4	7.0	14.9	12.2	10.8	10.8	10.7	13.2f	12.1f	15.0
Infant mortality(per 1000 birts)	Total	14 3	13 7	16.5f	14 3	10.4		15.7	6.3	11.1	16 9	5.8	7.5f	8 2
	Rural	13.4	17.4f	14.2'	.	7.5	11.3	18.1	5.9	8.2
Life expectancy	M	65.0	64.2	64.9f	66.7f	68.2	66.8	65.1	69.5	65.6	68.0	71.3	72.9'	71.0
	F	75 0	74 6	76.0	75 7	75 7	75.2	73.7	77.4	75 0	74.7	79.3	79.4f	76 7
Family size	Total	4.0	3.1	3 2d	3.3	2.6	3.6	2.9	3.1	3.5	2.8f	3.0	2.6	3.3
	Rural	4.2	3.2	3.2d	3.5		3.6	2.9	2.9	3.5	2.7f	3.1		4.1
	Farming families	4.3			3.9			4.0	3.7	3.0			4.5
No. of children/family	Total	2 3		1.7	1 4f	1.1	1.9	1.1	1.3	1.3	1.5	1.8f	2.1c	3 2b
	Rural	2.0	1.9		1.6f		2.0	1.1	1.4	1.3		1.9f	3.3c
Medium age of marriage	Total M	24	22	23.1	24.6f	22	25.9	25	29.3f	25.5	24.7	28.6	26.7b
	Total F	25	21	21.8	22.1f	18	23.3	22	26.1f	22.9	21.7	26.6	24.1b
	Rural M	26			24.5f		24.2	24	26f
	26.9b	28.5e
	Rural F	25			21.6f		213	21	24f
24.1b	26.7e
Divorce rate (per 1000 inhabitants)a		4.3f	4.0c	4.1	0.9	2.4		2.4e			1.3e	2.5f	2.1f	0.0
Mortality rate a	Total	13.1		11. 1	10.2	12.1		14.4			12.0	9.8	10.5	8.7
	Rural M		19.0						10.7
	Rural F		16.3					9.5

Source: Focal Informants.

^a Statistical Yearbook of Finland 1994, Helsinki, Statistics Finland.

^b1981

^c1986

^d1989

^e1990

^f1992

Comparison data on the standard of living can be taken from the UN Human Development Index (HDI)⁶ and Gender Development Index (GDI).⁷ The HDI does not contain all of the CEE countries (Slovenia and Croatia are missing and the Czech Republic and Slovakia are combined). However, it confirms the similar results given by the national yearbooks; there are differences between CEE countries and the reference countries in the social indicators of the general level of well-being. The reference countries (Finland, Austria and Ireland) have a higher position in the index than any of the CEE countries, and among the CEE countries, the Baltic countries, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary have a higher position than the others.

(⁶HDI ranks countries on the level of well-being of their populations, based on a combination of the following indicators: life expectancy at birth (years); adult literacy rate (percent); mean years of schooling; literacy index; schooling index; educational attainment; real GDP/per caput and adjusted real GDP/per caput. UNDP Human Development Report 1994, New York: Oxford University Press.

⁷GDI measures inequalities in achievement between women and men. The greater the gender disparity in basic capabilities, the lower a country's GDI compared with its HDI. The indicators used are: share of earned income (percent); life expectancy (years); adult literacy rate (percent); combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio (percent); and HDI rank minus GDI rank. UNDP Human Development Report, 1995, New York: Oxford University Press.)

In teens of gender development in the CEE countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia scored highest. GDI reveals that the situation in gender achievements in all the reference countries is not better than in the CEE countries, as Ireland scored lowest. In Finland, the gender achievements are better than in Austria. At the global level, however, all the project countries and reference countries rank in the top one-third.

Table 6: Human Development and Gender Development Indices for project countries

Country	HDI 1992	Rank	GDI 1995	Rank
Austria	0 917	12	0.882	10
Finland	0.911	16	0.918	2
Ireland	0.892	21	0.813	30
Czech Republic	0.872	27	0.858	15
Slovakia	a	a	0.855	16
Slovenia	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Estonia	0.867	29	0.839	21
Lithuania	0.868	28	0.750	44
Latvia	0.865	30	0.833	24
Poland	0.815	49	0.838	22
Hungary	0.863	31	0.836	23
Bulgaria	0.815	49	0.750	44

Source: UNDP Human Development Reports, 1992 and 1995.

^a Combined with Czech Republic.