Repository of DUTH

Fertility in Thrace: (Doctoral thesis)

Τσώνη, Ασπασία Ε./ Tsoni, Aspasia E.

The present research studies fertility in Thrace and aims, on the one hand, at a presentation of the trends of this demographic phenomenon from around 2000, up to the present day, and on the other hand, at highlighting the factors that determine the levels of fertility in Thrace. It also studies the student potential of Thrace and the phenomenon of dropping out of school. Thrace, specifically the 13 Municipalities of its three Prefectures, was chosen as the site of the research, because its population groups present some particularities in relation to the rest of the populations of Greece, related to the characteristics of the socio-economic development of the region and to their religion. The necessity of carrying out the proposed research is based on the prominent position held by both fertility and education for the economic evolution and development of societies. In addition, to the need to assess the state of the student potential of the region, in order to formulate an appropriate educational policy that will concern the region in question and finally to originality, as no corresponding surveys have been carried out at the spatial level of the Municipality. This particular time period was chosen because of the sufficiency of demographic material available for examination.The results of the research confirm the complex nature of couples' fertility, under the influence of the cultural and socio-economic environment. Greece, today, belongs to the countries with the lowest fertility. A similar trend is observed in Thrace, even if fertility is relatively higher there. The increase observed in fertility levels at the beginning of the 21st century is related to the problem of transmigration of fertility and by extension the replenishment of births until 2008. Also, fertility in Thrace is related by about 50% to first births, except Xanthi, where some discrepancies are observed. Another finding is that education is the most important determinant of fertility. Religion, although it differentiates the populations of Thrace, does not seem to influence the demographic behavior of individuals to a large extent. Finally, as far as education is concerned, although many efforts have been made by the state to strengthen student attendance, the phenomenon of student leakage still exists. In Thrace, there are many differences between the 13 Municipalities, due to a multitude of socio-economic and demographic factors. Based on these findings, guidelines can be drawn up in the state's demographic policy to deal with population issues. In addition, the findings concerning Thrace can be generalized and used to interpret the demographic phenomena of the entire country.