Abstract
Since 1989, fertility in Czechia and Slovakia has undergone a unique and unprecedented transition. This is most evident in fertility postponement.
Some scholars are now referring to this as the postponement transition. Relatively detailed information is available on this transition at the national level, but the regional picture is often neglected.
The main objective of this unique paper is to analyse the spatial differences in the character and rate of fertility in Czechia and Slovakia after 1989. The analysis covers the basic fertility indicators (total fertility, total first order fertility, average age of mother at first birth, fertility among women aged 30 and over as a proportion of total fertility) in addition to the fertility postponement indicators (postponement rate, recuperation rate and recuperation index).
This is the first time these postponement indicators have been analysed in such detail at the regional level in Czechia and Slovakia. Development trends are analysed using descriptive statistics and illustrated by cartograms.
Convergence and divergence trends are also analysed, while the stability of spatial patterns and any changes that may have occurred owing to the postponement transition are also explored. The results show that the nature and trajectory of the fertility postponement transitions in Czechia and Slovakia share some similarities.
The main spatial differences in fertility in the two countries relate to the pace and structure of fertility in relation to the woman's age.