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Chapter2:ThePolishCase
25
Poleslivedabroadin2005,and1.95millionlivedabroadin2006(CentralSta-
tisticalOffice2008).
OurstudytakesplaceonlyacoupleofmonthsafterPoland’sentryintothe
EuropeanUnion,whentheexodushadjuststarted,andtheimpactoftemporary
migrationonfertilitytrendswasnotyetvisible.Nevertheless,theroleofmigra-
tionforfertilitybehavioursislikelytoincreaseinthefuture,especiallybecause,
accordingtosomeinitialanalyses,asmanyas80%ofPoleswholeftPoland
after2004wereunder35yearsofage(Okólski2007).
Increasingnumbersofyoungemigrantseveniftheystayabroadonlytem-
porarilymayhavevariousconsequencesforthePolishfamily.Ontheone
hand,thistrendmayresultinanevengreaterpostponementoffamilyformation.
Couplesmaysubstantiallydelaychildbearingifonepartnerisaway.Ontheoth-
erhand,workingabroadmayimproveyoungpeople’sfinancialsituations,and
subsequentlyincreasetheirpropensitytohavechildren.Therearemanyother
family-relatedissueslinkedtotemporarymigration,suchasitsimpactonunion
formationandstability,andproblemswithhouseholddutiesandchildcarear-
rangementswhenonepartnerisnotaround.
Thecurrentwaveofout-migrationisstillpoorlyresearched,andmanyques-
tionsremainopen.WedonotknowhowmanycouplesdecidetoleavePoland
together.Ahighershareofmenamongmigrants(Okólski2007)indicatesthat
theproblemofseparatedunionsappliestoatleastsomecouples.Wedonot
knowhowmanyoftheseyoungpeoplewilleventuallycomebacktoPolandand
whentheywillreturn.Itisprobablethatpartofthemwillstarttheirfamilies
abroadandwillstaythere.Thesetopicsdeservemuchcloserattentioninfuture
studies.
2.1.4.Summary
Summarisingthetrendspresentedinthisshortoverview,wecanconclude
thatPolandinthelastquarterofacenturyhasbeencharacterisedfirstandfore-
mostbyarapiddeclineinperiodfertilitymeasures.Thistrendisaproductof
fertilitypostponement,womenlimitingthenumberofchildren,andtherisein
childlessness.Fertilitypostponementhasincreasedinrecentyears.Similarly,
childlessnessisanewphenomenon,observedincohortsbornafter1960.Nota-
bly,fertilityisstillstronglyconnectedtonuptialityinPoland:comparedtoother
Europeancountries,marriageappearstobestronginPoland,andhasnotyet
startedlosinggroundstoinformalunions.Marriageandparenthoodremain
closelyrelated.